Classic and Non-classic Intracellular Bacteria: Host immunity and Microbial Persistence Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Intracellular bacteria are able to successfully infect and cause a broad spectrum of clinically significant diseases by manipulating host cells and escaping the host immune system. Classic examples include species that belong to the Mycobacteria, Chlamydia, Salmonella, Listeria, Brucella, Rickettsia, Shigella and Legionella genera. Persistent infection is a common phenomenon associated with infections triggered by many intracellular bacterial species, involving many known and unknown molecular and cellular mechanisms. Both microbial gene products and various host immune components control the intracellular life cycle of the pathogen as well as the progression of clinical disease. Notably, emerging evidence indicates that extracellular bacteria, such as Yersinia, Escherichia, Pseudomonas, and Streptococcus, also have the capacity to replicate and survive inside host cells. In this specific issue, we would like to collect reviews, mini-reviews and original research articles to illustrate the life cycle of classic and non-classic intracellular pathogens and elucidate how different microbial gene products and immune components are involved in various microbial intracellular survival strategies. This collection will help to reveal what are the common and/or unique microbial persistent strategies utilized by diverse intracellular pathogens.

Prof. Dr. Jun Wang
Prof. Dr. Zhenyu Cheng
Guest Editors

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