title: Advances in rickettsia pathogenicity.
abstract: One century after the first description of rickettsiae as human pathogens, the rickettsiosis remained poorly understood diseases. These microorganisms are indeed characterized by a strictly intracellular location which has, for long, prohibited their detailed study. Within the last ten years, the completion of the genome sequences of several strains allowed gaining a better knowledge about the molecular mechanisms involved in rickettsia pathogenicity. Here, we summarized available data concerning the critical steps of rickettsia-host cell interactions that should contribute to tissue injury and diseases, that is, adhesion, phagosomal escape, motility, and intracellular survival of the bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Rickettsies, URMITE IRD-CNRS 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Premanand
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balraj
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Renesto
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000382:microbiology; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000635:transmission; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D037521:Virulence Factors