The complex relationship between mycobacteria and macrophages: it's not all bliss.
Mycobacteria are uniquely adapted to grow inside host macrophages. As Clay et al. show in this issue of Cell Host & Microbe and as van der Wel et al. show in a recent issue of Cell, there are both benefits and drawbacks for the pathogen in adopting this strategy, and some of our fundamental assumptions about how the host cell and bacterium interact might need to be reexamined.
Fortune
Sarah M
SM
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Rubin
Eric J
EJ
D000818:Animals; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000382:microbiology; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology*; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000382:microbiology*; D019910:Mycobacterium marinum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology