en
Scientific article
Open access
English

Infection by tubercular mycobacteria is spread by nonlytic ejection from their amoeba hosts

Published inScience, vol. 323, no. 5922, p. 1729-1733
Publication date2009
Abstract

To generate efficient vaccines and cures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we need a far better understanding of its modes of infection, persistence, and spreading. Host cell entry and the establishment of a replication niche are well understood, but little is known about how tubercular mycobacteria exit host cells and disseminate the infection. Using the social amoeba Dictyostelium as a genetically tractable host for pathogenic mycobacteria, we discovered that M. tuberculosis and M. marinum, but not M. avium, are ejected from the cell through an actin-based structure, the ejectosome. This conserved nonlytic spreading mechanism requires a cytoskeleton regulator from the host and an intact mycobacterial ESX-1 secretion system. This insight offers new directions for research into the spreading of tubercular mycobacteria infections in mammalian cells.

Keywords
  • Actins/physiology
  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins/metabolism
  • Cell Membrane/microbiology
  • Cytoskeleton/microbiology/physiology/ultrastructure
  • Cytosol/microbiology
  • Dictyostelium/microbiology/ultrastructure
  • GTP Phosphohydrolases/metabolism
  • Mycobacterium avium/genetics/pathogenicity/physiology
  • Mycobacterium marinum/genetics/pathogenicity/physiology
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis/genetics/pathogenicity/physiology
  • Phagocytosis
  • Pressure
  • Vacuoles/microbiology
Citation (ISO format)
HAGEDORN, Monica et al. Infection by tubercular mycobacteria is spread by nonlytic ejection from their amoeba hosts. In: Science, 2009, vol. 323, n° 5922, p. 1729–1733. doi: 10.1126/science.1169381
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0036-8075
592views
639downloads

Technical informations

Creation03/19/2012 12:19:00 PM
First validation03/19/2012 12:19:00 PM
Update time03/14/2023 5:09:55 PM
Status update03/14/2023 5:09:55 PM
Last indexation01/15/2024 11:07:00 PM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack