Host cell-free growth of the Q fever bacterium Coxiella burnetii.

ABSTRACT: The inability to propagate obligate intracellular pathogens under axenic (host cell-free) culture conditions imposes severe experimental constraints that have negatively impacted progress in understanding pathogen virulence and disease mechanisms. Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of human Q (Query) fever, is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen that replicates exclusively in an acidified, lysosome-like vacuole. To define conditions that support C. burnetii growth, we systematically evaluated the organism's metabolic requirements using expression microarrays, genomic reconstruction, and metabolite typing. This led to development of a complex nutrient medium that supported substantial growth (approximately 3 log(10)) of C. burnetii in a 2.5% oxygen environment. Importantly, axe

SUBMITTER: Omsland A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2657411 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature