Plants and animals share functionally common bacterial virulence factors
- Laurence G. Rahme*,†,‡,
- Frederick M. Ausubel§,
- Hui Cao†,‡,
- Eliana Drenkard§,
- Boyan C. Goumnerov†,‡,
- Gee W. Lau†,‡,
- Shalina Mahajan-Miklos§,¶,
- Julia Plotnikova§,
- Man-Wah Tan§,‖,
- John Tsongalis‡,
- Cynthia L. Walendziewicz‡, and
- Ronald G. Tompkins†,‡
- †Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, ‡Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriner's Burn Institute, Boston, MA 02114; §Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114; and ‖Society of Fellows, Harvard University, 78 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Abstract
By exploiting the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to infect a variety of vertebrate and nonvertebrate hosts, we have developed model systems that use plants and nematodes as adjuncts to mammalian models to help elucidate the molecular basis of P. aeruginosa pathogenesis. Our studies reveal a remarkable degree of conservation in the virulence mechanisms used by P. aeruginosa to infect hosts of divergent evolutionary origins.
Footnotes
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↵ * To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: rahme{at}frodo.mgh.harvard.edu.
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↵ ¶ Present address: Micrbobia, Inc., One Kendall Square, Building 1400W, Suite 1418, Cambridge, MA 02139.
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This paper was presented at the National Academy of Sciences colloquium “Virulence and Defense in Host-Pathogen Interactions: Common Features Between Plants and Animals,” held December 9–11, 1999, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, CA.
- Copyright © 2000, The National Academy of Sciences
