bacterial pathogenesis Flashcards
definition of virulence factor
a component or trait of a pathogen that allows it to cause disease in a susceptible host
limitations of koch’s postulates
1) sometimes the organism is long gone by the time disease symptoms appear
2) many organisms are not cultivable
3) the disease may be specific to humans
T3S
“injectisome” functions as a hypodermic syringe; translocated effector proteins target various components and organelles of the host cell, corrupting their normal function for the benefit of the pathogen.
benefits of secreted virulence factors
- subverting host cell pathways to permit growth of intracellular pathogens
- preparing for the next round of infection: adhesins/invasins may be “premade” to be used later at a different site or in a different host
- preventing cell death
- remodeling the cell cytoskeleton so that the pathogen can attach better or move around the cell better
- getting around host defenses
pathogenicity is
acquired in quantum leaps rather than through gradual evolution
example of virulence plasmid
Shigella
example of phage
Cholera toxin
example of pathogenicity island
LEE: encodes T3S system and intimin; intimin does not have a receptor, so LEE brought one along
Stanley Falkow
1988 - molecular koch’s postulate
Falkow’s postulates
the gene(s) encoding the phenotype should be associated with pathogenic strains
inactivation of the gene(s) results in a reduction in virulence
restoration of the gene(s) into the avirulent mutant reestablishes virulence
virulence factors-1
colonization factors
adherence factors
invasion factors
virulence factors-2
toxins
immune evasion factors
other virulence factors (3 kinds)
motility
iron acquisiton
biofilms
adherence factors
the successful pathogen must compete with normal flora, overcome electrostatic repulsion.
initial host-pathogen interaction requires the functions of a bacterial adherence factor of a host receptor
bacterial adherence is often mediated by adhesins
invasion factors
distinguish between cell and tissue invasion
cell invasins promote internalization of pathogen into a cell
some do both
internalin
listeria invasion and cell-to-cell spread is mediated by protein named internalin
perio pathogen p. gingivalis has internalin homolog
membrane ruffling
salmonella uses T3S to secrete effectors that induce membrane ruffling
bacterial toxins (two types)
1) lipopolysaccharides associated with the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria; the LPS component of the gram negative outer membrane is also named endotoxin because of its association with the cell wall
2) proteins released into the extracellular environment (most of the protein toxins are exotoxins since they are released from the bacteria that act on host cells at a distance
endotoxin
LPS is composed of lipid A and core polysaccharide and O antigen and is released upon lysis of the bacterium during infection
lipid A
carries the endotoxin activity
O side chain
antigenic portion of LPS
endotoxemia
endotoxin in the blood