Dictyostelium discoideum as a model system for identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei virulence factors.

ABSTRACT: Burkholderia pseudomallei is an emerging bacterial pathogen and category B biothreat. Human infections with B. pseudomallei (called melioidosis) present as a range of manifestations, including acute septicemia and pneumonia. Although melioidosis can be fatal, little is known about the molecular basis of B. pseudomallei pathogenicity, in part because of the lack of simple, genetically tractable eukaryotic models to facilitate en masse identification of virulence determinants or explore host-pathogen interactions. Two assays, one high-throughput and one quantitative, were developed to monitor levels of resistance of B. pseudomallei and the closely related nearly avirulent species Burkholderia thailandensis to predation by the phagocytic amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. The quantitative assay

SUBMITTER: Hasselbring BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3088138 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature