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Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Tractable Mammalian Cell Infections with Protozoan-primed Bacteria

Tractable Mammalian Cell Infections with Protozoan-primed Bacteria

Published on: April 2, 2013

Manipulating virulence factor availability can have complex consequences for infections.

Michael Weigert¹, Adin Ross-Gillespie², Anne Leinweber³

¹Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland; Microbiology Department of Biology I Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Martinsried Germany.

Evolutionary Applications

|December 31, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Antivirulence therapies targeting bacterial virulence factors may be less effective than assumed. Disarming bacteria can unexpectedly impact fitness and resistance due to complex host-pathogen interactions.

Keywords:

Galleria mellonella Pseudomonas aeruginosa antivirulence therapy host effects opportunistic pathogen pathogen fitness pleiotropy siderophore

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Using a Bacterial Pathogen to Probe for Cellular and Organismic-level Host Responses

Using a Bacterial Pathogen to Probe for Cellular and Organismic-level Host Responses

Published on: February 22, 2019

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Infectious Diseases
Evolutionary Biology

Background:

Antibiotic resistance necessitates novel infection control strategies.
Antivirulence therapies aim to disarm bacteria by targeting virulence factors, with assumptions of minimal resistance selection and high specificity.
Pathogenicity arises from complex pathogen-host-environment interactions, challenging simplistic therapeutic assumptions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of manipulating a specific virulence factor, pyoverdine, on the opportunistic pathogen *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* in a host model.
To assess the assumptions of antivirulence therapy regarding bacterial fitness and resistance evolution.
To explore the complex interplay between virulence factor availability, host response, and overall pathogenicity.

Main Methods:

Conducted experiments using *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* and the insect host *Galleria mellonella*.
Manipulated the availability of the iron-scavenging pyoverdine virulence factor.
Analyzed the effects on bacterial virulence, fitness, and the expression of other virulence factors.

Main Results:

Pyoverdine availability did not consistently predict virulence and influenced bacterial fitness in nonlinear ways.
Pyoverdine manipulation affected host responses and altered the expression of regulatorily linked virulence factors.
Virulence factor manipulation demonstrated feedback effects on pathogen and host behavior, influencing overall virulence.

Conclusions:

The effectiveness and evolutionary robustness of antivirulence therapies require a deeper understanding of host-pathogen system complexity.
Current assumptions about antivirulence therapies may be overly simplistic.
Future strategies must account for intricate interactions within host-pathogen systems for successful treatment.