title: Galleria mellonella larvae as an infection model for group A streptococcus.
abstract: Group A streptococcus is a strict human pathogen that can cause a wide range of diseases, such as tonsillitis, impetigo, necrotizing fasciitis, toxic shock, and acute rheumatic fever. Modeling human diseases in animals is complicated, and rapid, simple, and cost-effective in vivo models of GAS infection are clearly lacking. Recently, the use of non-mammalian models to model human disease is starting to re-attract attention. Galleria mellonella larvae, also known as wax worms, have been investigated for modeling a number of bacterial pathogens, and have been shown to be a useful model to study pathogenesis of the M3 serotype of GAS. In this study we provide further evidence of the validity of the wax worm model by testing different GAS M-types, as well as investigating the effect of bacterial growth phase and incubation temperature on GAS virulence in this model. In contrast to previous studies, we show that the M-protein, among others, is an important virulence factor that can be effectively modeled in the wax worm. We also highlight the need for a more in-depth investigation of the effects of experimental design and wax worm supply before we can properly vindicate the wax worm model for studying GAS pathogenesis.
authors: Department of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, NZ.
authors: Jacelyn M S
authors: JM
authors: Loh
authors: Nazneen
authors: N
authors: Adenwalla
authors: Siouxsie
authors: S
authors: Wiles
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Proft
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors; C014689:streptococcal M protein
keywords: Galleria mellonellalarvae; Streptococcus pyogenes; group A streptococcus; in vivo; infection model; wax worms
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