Pathogens

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Romain Veyron-Churlet

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Guest Editor

Université de Lille, CNRS UMR8204, INSERM U1019, CHU Lille, Centre d’Infection et d’Immunité de Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, 59000 Lille, France
Interests: tuberculosis; host-pathogen interactions; Mycobacterium; cell wall; protein-protein interactions

Dr. Arnaud Machelart

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), which is the first leading cause of death around the world due to a single infectious agent. In 2017, TB killed an estimated 1.6 million people, according to the WHO. In addition, there is an alarming increase of multi-resistant drug TB cases. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms leading to the development of the disease is urgently needed to develop efficient strategies against TB.

Mtb is a successful pathogen, which, upon inhalation, is able to infect the host alveolar macrophages. The bacilli is able to prevent the acidification of its containing vacuole by blocking the phagosomal maturation. During its vacuolar lifetime, Mtb is able to survive in this harsh environment by resisting the host immune response and scavenging the nutrients necessary for its survival (like lipids or iron). Ultimately, Mtb can escape the vacuole and reside inside the cell cytoplasm.

Therefore, Mtb has developed a huge set of mechanisms to promote its survival and massively replicate during its prolonged stay in the host. Several virulence factors of Mtb have been identified with the help of genetic tools and animal models. Among the most studied mycobacterial effectors, one can cite the ESX/type VII secretion system substrates (ESAT-6/CFP-10), the eukaryotic-like protein kinase (PknG), as well as several components of the very peculiar mycobacterial cell wall (PDIM, mycolic acids). Nonetheless, many other mechanisms remain to be identified and characterized to gain a better understanding of TB pathogenesis.

For this Special Issue of Pathogens, we kindly invite authors to submit an original research article or a review focusing on the mycobacterial effectors promoting TB infection. Potential topics could include (but are not limited to): host–pathogen interactions, virulence factors of Mtb, intravacuolar and/or intracytoplasmic survival of Mtb, mechanisms of resistance, and interference with host cell signaling.

Dr. Romain Veyron-Churlet
Dr. Arnaud Machelart
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

tuberculosis
infection
Mycobacterium
host–pathogen interactions
virulence factors
mechanisms of resistance

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv0341 Promotes Mycobacterium Survival in In Vitro Hostile Environments and within Macrophages and Induces Cytokines Expression

by Abualgasim Elgaili Abdalla, Shuangquan Yan, Jie Zeng, Wanyan Deng, Longxiang Xie and Jianping Xie

Pathogens 2020, 9(6), 454; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9060454 - 8 Jun 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2584

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis represents an ancient deadly human pathogen that can survive and multiply within macrophages. The effectors are key players for the successful pathogenesis of this bacterium. M. tuberculosis open reading frame (ORF) Rv0341, a pathogenic mycobacteria-specific gene, was found to be upregulated in macrophages isolated from human tuberculosis granuloma and inside the macrophages during in vitro infection by M. tuberculosis. To understand the exact role of this gene, we expressed the Rv0341 gene in M. smegmatis, which is a non-pathogenic Mycobacterium. We found that Rv0341 expression can alter colony morphology, reduce the sliding capability, and decrease the cell wall permeability of M. smegmatis. Furthermore, Rv0341 remarkably enhanced M. smegmatis survival within macrophages and under multiple in vitro stress conditions when compared with the control strain. Ms_Rv0341 significantly induced expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10 compared with M. smegmatis harboring an empty vector. In summary, these data suggest that Rv0341 is one of the M. tuberculosis virulence determinants that can promote bacilli survival in harsh conditions and inside macrophages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycobacterial Effectors Promoting Tuberculosis Infection)

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Review

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15 pages, 1689 KiB

Open AccessReview

In Vivo Methods to Study Protein–Protein Interactions as Key Players in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Virulence

by Romain Veyron-Churlet and Camille Locht

Pathogens 2019, 8(4), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8040173 - 1 Oct 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4492

Abstract

Studies on protein–protein interactions (PPI) can be helpful for the annotation of unknown protein functions and for the understanding of cellular processes, such as specific virulence mechanisms developed by bacterial pathogens. In that context, several methods have been extensively used in recent years for the characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis PPI to further decipher tuberculosis (TB) pathogenesis. This review aims at compiling the most striking results based on in vivo methods (yeast and bacterial two-hybrid systems, protein complementation assays) for the specific study of PPI in mycobacteria. Moreover, newly developed methods, such as in-cell native mass resonance and proximity-dependent biotinylation identification, will have a deep impact on future mycobacterial research, as they are able to perform dynamic (transient interactions) and integrative (multiprotein complexes) analyses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycobacterial Effectors Promoting Tuberculosis Infection)

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