Designer bugs: structural engineering to build a better mouse model.
Many animal models of bacterial diseases are hampered by differences in tissue tropism and the course of pathogenesis. In a recent issue of Cell, by rationally mutating a surface invasion protein (InlA) to have higher binding affinity for its cognate host receptor (E-cadherin), Wollert et al. were able to "murinize"Listeria monocytogenes, creating a strain capable of invading intestinal epithelial cells in mice, mimicking the route of infection in humans.
Bhaskaran
Shyam S
SS
Laboratory of Structural Microbiology, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Stebbins
C Erec
CE
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000502:physiology; D002616:Chemical Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D015198:Designer Drugs / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections; D008087:Listeria / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D015820:Cadherins; D015198:Designer Drugs