Genomic approaches to understanding bacterial virulence

Abstract

The genomic sequences of bacterial pathogens and of the host species they infect have greatly increased the understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Sequences of bacterial genomes have led to the identification of virulence factors through the use of bioinformatics, targeted mutant library construction, screening approaches combining transposon mutagenesis and microarray technology, and through the expression of libraries of bacterial proteins within model organisms such as yeast. Host genomic information has also yielded insights into bacterial virulence through transcriptional profiling of host responses to infection and identification of host proteins required for bacterial pathogenicity using knockdown of host gene product expression during infection. Research using genomic approaches to bacterial pathogenesis is a rapidly growing field and will expand further as additional bacterial genome sequences become available and techniques for conducting high-throughput analysis are refined.