Bacterial Adaptive Strategies inside Host Cells
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 2511
Special Issue Editor
Interests: modulation of airway mucus hypersecretion by respiratory pathogens in chronic lung diseases; interaction of bacterial pathogens with alveolar epithelium during lung infection; regulation of genetic transfer and virulence by Streptococcus pneumoniae competence regulon during lung infection
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is well known that intracellular bacterial pathogens infect and persist inside their hosts. Additionally, facultative intracellular bacterial pathogens, as well as extracellular bacterial pathogens, also display phases in their infection cycles that require them to survive within host cells. Sensing of the host environments, such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, and host defense components, invading bacterial pathogens and opportunistic commensals elaborate survival mechanisms intracellularly, including the expression of factors required for invasion, evasion, proliferation and persistence. Many intracellular bacterial pathogens express factors which are similar to host proteins in order to mimic and co-opt host cellular processes to promote colonization and intracellular survival. Similarly, facultative intracellular pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria species can invade and survive in phagocytic and non-phagocytic cells by the expression of virulence genes for invasion, survival and spread. Additionally, many extracellular pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, exhibit an initial intracellular phase of infection to hide from the host's immune system and antibiotics therapy, allowing them to persist and eventually switch to a typical extracellular infection. Finally, bacterial symbionts deliver factors into host cells that suppress immune defense, alter the gene expression, or modify host morphology or physiology that promote the nutrition and proliferation of the symbiont.
In this Special Issue, we invite the submission of original research articles, review articles and short communications covering human, animal, and plant bacterial pathogens in topics that include but not limited to the following: active immune suppression of the host cells by bacterial virulence factors, immune evasion by bacterial pathogens, molecular and cellular host mimicry and manipulation in bacterial symbionts, and modulation of survival mechanisms of persister cells in persistent infection. Novel technological breakthroughs in early detection of infection by intracellular pathogens, as well as omics/computation approaches to examine the evolution of bacterial traits that promote intracellular survival are also welcome.
Prof. Dr. Gee Lau
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- intracellular pathogens and facultative intracellular pathogens
- host environment
- bacterial survival mechanisms
- host mimicry
- host invasion, evasion and proliferation
- bacterial persistence
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