TY - JOUR
T1 - Turn-ons and turn-offs
T2 - Control of bacterial virulence gene expression
AU - Rosenthal, Kenneth S.
AU - Anand, Malini
AU - Donley, Chad
PY - 2008/7/1
Y1 - 2008/7/1
N2 - Bacteria have diverse mechanisms for establishing residence within the human host. Adhesion proteins, degradative enzymes, toxins, and other proteins ensure that the bacterial colony has food and a place to grow. The detrimental actions of these bacterial products on the human body make them virulence factors. Virulence factors are not essential to the viability of the microbe but are important for their parasitism of humans. The expression of the virulence proteins is regulated by an intricate web of turn-ons and turn-offs initiated by the signals from bacterial sensor proteins which monitor the environment of the bacteria. Osmolarity, pH, oxygen tension, and the concentrations of specific ions denote the location of the bacteria, whether inside or outside and where in the human body, and activate appropriate bacterial systems. Quorum sensors activate processes that are important for larger colonies of bacteria. The importance of these control networks for bacterial growth and disease production in the human body suggests that they may be good targets for antimicrobial drug development.
AB - Bacteria have diverse mechanisms for establishing residence within the human host. Adhesion proteins, degradative enzymes, toxins, and other proteins ensure that the bacterial colony has food and a place to grow. The detrimental actions of these bacterial products on the human body make them virulence factors. Virulence factors are not essential to the viability of the microbe but are important for their parasitism of humans. The expression of the virulence proteins is regulated by an intricate web of turn-ons and turn-offs initiated by the signals from bacterial sensor proteins which monitor the environment of the bacteria. Osmolarity, pH, oxygen tension, and the concentrations of specific ions denote the location of the bacteria, whether inside or outside and where in the human body, and activate appropriate bacterial systems. Quorum sensors activate processes that are important for larger colonies of bacteria. The importance of these control networks for bacterial growth and disease production in the human body suggests that they may be good targets for antimicrobial drug development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67649957810&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=67649957810&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/IPC.0b013e31816fd5f0
DO - 10.1097/IPC.0b013e31816fd5f0
M3 - Short survey
AN - SCOPUS:67649957810
SN - 1056-9103
VL - 16
SP - 240
EP - 244
JO - Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice
JF - Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice
IS - 4
ER -