Type III Secretion Systems in Human/Animal Pathogenic Bacteria

Dear Colleagues,

Type III secretion systems (T3SS) were discovered in the 1990s and initially described in the animal pathogen Yersinia, but they are present in many Gram-negative bacterial pathogens and symbionts of animal and plants. These systems are important virulence factors for many animal pathogenic bacteria and consist of a needle-like structure that spans inner and outer bacterial membranes and the host cell membrane to deliver effector proteins into the host cytosol. These effectors interfere with cellular functions to manipulate the host cells processes to benefit the pathogen.

Bacterial pathogens that use T3SS to communicate with host cells represent a major threat to human health and cause a broad spectrum of diseases and clinical manifestations. They include species of Shigella, Salmonella, Yersinia, Bordetella, Chlamydia, and Burkholderia, as well as enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic E. coli, and the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Some of them, together with species of Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Edwarsiella, Photorhabdus, or Vibrio, among others, can also cause infections in livestock and fisheries, leading to huge economic losses and, in some cases, increasing the risk of human infections.

In spite of the variety of lifestyles and diseases caused by these pathogens, there are also common themes arising from the fact that they share the use of T3SSs as key virulence mechanisms, and that effectors from different bacteria may have similar designs, biochemical activities, and/or functions. Therefore, researchers working in a particular T3SS can benefit from the studies carried out in other bacteria. Finally, these systems provide an opportunity to develop novel therapeutic approaches to respond to the growing number of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, one of the ten threats to global health identified by the World Health Organization for this year.

This Special Issue focuses on the study of type III secretion systems in animal pathogenic bacteria and will publish high-quality research articles and reviews concerning this subject. We aim to address all aspects related to this topic, including: regulation of the expression of type III secretion systems and their effectors; mechanisms of type III protein secretion; conditions for secretion and translocation of effectors; host–pathogen specificity; structural studies; enzymatic activities, substrates, and interacting partners of the effectors; functional effects on the host; and biotechnological and biomedical applications.

Prof. Dr. Francisco Ramos-Morales
Dr. Joaquín Bernal-Bayard
Guest Editors

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