title: The pursuit of cryptococcal pathogenesis: heterologous hosts and the study of cryptococcal host-pathogen interactions.
abstract: Analysis of the molecular mechanisms by which a pathogen interacts with the human host is most commonly performed using a mammalian model of infection. However, several virulence-related genes previously shown to be involved in mammalian infection with Cryptococcus neoformans have also been shown to play a role in the interaction of these pathogens with invertebrates, such as Acanthamoeba castellanii, Caenorhabditis elegans, Dictyostelium discoideum, Drosophila melanogaster and Galleria mellonella. The study of host-pathogen interactions using these model hosts has allowed rapid screening of mutant libraries and can be used for the study of evolutionarily preserved aspects of microbial virulence and host response.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Roanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: London
authors.forename: Benjamin Samuel
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Orozco
authors.forename: Eleftherios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mylonakis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000382:microbiology*; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D009036:Moths / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence