Campylobacter jejuni--microtubule-dependent invasion

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading bacterial cause of food-borne illness worldwide and a major cause of Guillain-Barré paralysis. Recent molecular and cellular studies of one well-characterized C. jejuni strain have begun to unravel the details of an unusual microtubule-dependent (actin-filament-independent) gut-invasion mechanism, through which at least some C. jejuni initiate disease. Although responsible for causing a human dysenteric syndrome remarkably similar to that triggered by Shigella spp., current evidence suggests that C. jejuni use some markedly different molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis compared with shigellae.