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Bacterial spread from cell to cell: beyond actin-based motility

Carole J Kuehl1, Ana-Maria Dragoi1, Arthur Talman1

  • 1Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine, Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.

Trends in Microbiology
|May 30, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Intracellular pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes use actin-based motility to spread between cells. This review highlights pathogen-specific mechanisms for forming protrusions and vacuoles, crucial for cell-to-cell transmission.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Cell Biology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Intracellular pathogens utilize actin-based motility for intracellular movement.
  • Pathogen spread occurs via cell-cell contact, forming protrusions and vacuoles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent advances in understanding pathogen-specific mechanisms of cell-to-cell spread.
  • To elucidate the elusive mechanisms of protrusion formation and vacuole resolution.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of seminal and recent studies.
  • Analysis of bacterial and cellular factors involved in pathogen spread.

Main Results:

  • Actin-based motility is essential for intracellular pathogen propagation.
  • Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella flexneri have evolved distinct strategies for cell-to-cell spread.
  • Mechanisms of protrusion formation and vacuole resolution remain incompletely understood.

Conclusions:

  • Pathogen-specific mechanisms drive cell-to-cell spread of intracellular bacteria.
  • Further research is needed to fully define the molecular details of protrusion and vacuole formation during infection.
Keywords:
Listeria monocytogenesShigella flexneridouble-membrane vacuolemembrane protrusionspread from cell to cell

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