The worm has turned--microbial virulence modeled in Caenorhabditis elegans.
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is emerging as a facile and economical model host for the study of evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and innate immunity. A rapidly growing number of human and animal microbial pathogens have been shown to injure and kill nematodes. In many cases, microbial genes known to be important for full virulence in mammalian models have been shown to be similarly required for maximum pathogenicity in nematodes. C. elegans has been used in mutation-based screening systems to identify novel virulence-related microbial genes and immune-related host genes, many of which have been validated in mammalian models of disease. C. elegans-based pathogenesis systems hold the potential to simultaneously explore the molecular genetic determinants of both pathogen virulence and host defense.
Sifri
Costi D
CD
Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia Health System, MR4, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
Begun
Jakob
J
Ausubel
Frederick M
FM
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans