Macrophage Selenoproteins Restrict Intracellular Replication of Francisella tularensis and Are Essential for Host Immunity.

ABSTRACT: The essential micronutrient Selenium (Se) is co-translationally incorporated as selenocysteine into proteins. Selenoproteins contain one or more selenocysteines and are vital for optimum immunity. Interestingly, many pathogenic bacteria utilize Se for various biological processes suggesting that Se may play a role in bacterial pathogenesis. A previous study had speculated that Francisella tularensis, a facultative intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of tularemia, sequesters Se by upregulating Se-metabolism genes in type II alveolar epithelial cells. Therefore, we investigated the contribution of host vs. pathogen-associated selenoproteins in bacterial disease using F. tularensis as a model organism. We found that F. tularensis was devoid of any Se utilizati

SUBMITTER: Markley RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8586653 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature