title: Biology of Paenibacillus larvae, a deadly pathogen of honey bee larvae.
abstract: The gram-positive bacterium Paenibacillus larvae is the etiological agent of American Foulbrood of honey bees, a notifiable disease in many countries. Hence, P. larvae can be considered as an entomopathogen of considerable relevance in veterinary medicine. P. larvae is a highly specialized pathogen with only one established host, the honey bee larva. No other natural environment supporting germination and proliferation of P. larvae is known. Over the last decade, tremendous progress in the understanding of P. larvae and its interactions with honey bee larvae at a molecular level has been made. In this review, we will present the recent highlights and developments in P. larvae research and discuss the impact of some of the findings in a broader context to demonstrate what we can learn from studying "exotic" pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bee Diseases, Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540, Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bee Diseases, Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540, Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Knispel
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bee Diseases, Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540, Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hertlein
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bee Diseases, Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540, Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fünfhaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bee Diseases, Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540, Hohen Neuendorf, Germany. elke.genersch@hu-berlin.de.|Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13, 14163, Berlin, Germany. elke.genersch@hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7906-4530
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Genersch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism; D001516:Bees / Q000382:microbiology*; D058507:Host Specificity; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology*; D000070059:Paenibacillus larvae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins
keywords: American foulbrood; Bacterial pathogenesis; Bacterial toxins; Chitin-degrading enzymes; Paenibacillus larvae; Pathobiology; S-layer proteins; Secondary metabolites