A specific host-pathogen interaction exists between Caenorhabditis elegans and the gram-positive bacterium Microbacterium nematophilum. This bacterium is able to colonize the rectum of susceptible worms and induces a defensive tail-swelling response in the host. Previous mutant screens have identified multiple loci that affect this interaction. Some of these loci correspond to known genes, but ...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major life-threatening opportunistic pathogen that commonly infects immunocompromised patients. This bacterium owes its success as a pathogen largely to its metabolic versatility and flexibility. A thorough understanding of P. aeruginosa's metabolism is thus pivotal for the design of effective intervention strategies. Here we aim to provide, through systems analysis,...

Genome sequences offer a broad view of host-pathogen interactions at the systems biology level. With the completion of the sequence of the honey bee, interest in the relevant pathogens is heightened. Here we report the genome sequences of two of the major pathogens of honey bees, the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae (causative agent for American foulbrood disease) and the fungus Ascosphaera apis....

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is the most recently described and least understood of the protein secretion systems of Gram-negative bacteria. It is widely distributed and has been implicated in the virulence of various pathogens, but its mechanism and exact mode of action remain to be defined. Additionally there have been several very recent reports that some T6SSs can target bacteria rat...

Interferon exposure boosts cell-autonomous immunity for more efficient pathogen control. But how interferon-enhanced immunity protects the cytosol against bacteria and how professionally cytosol-dwelling bacteria avoid clearance are insufficiently understood. Here we demonstrate that the interferon-induced GTPase family of guanylate-binding proteins (GBPs) coats Shigella flexneri in a hierarchi...

Noroviruses (NoVs) are increasingly being recognized as important enteric pathogens. At a university-based hospital, we investigated a nosocomial outbreak of NoV infection that was originally attributed to Clostridium difficile. We describe here the unique challenges of the identification of NoVs as the true etiologic pathogen in an outbreak occurring in a health care setting, where C. difficil...

The efficacy of hexanoic acid (Hx) as an inducer of resistance in tomato plants against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 was previously demonstrated, and the plant response was characterized. Because little is known about the reaction of the pathogen to this effect, the goal of the present work was to determine whether the changes in the plant defence system affect the pathogen behaviour....

Legionella pneumophila is a ubiquitous environmental bacterium that thrives in fresh water habitats, either as planktonic form or as part of biofilms. The bacteria also grow intracellularly in free-living protozoa as well as in mammalian alveolar macrophages, thus triggering a potentially fatal pneumonia called "Legionnaires' disease." To establish its intracellular niche termed the "Legionella...