Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Nov;198(4):221-38.
doi: 10.1007/s00430-009-0123-8. Epub 2009 Sep 22.

Survival of the fittest: how Brucella strains adapt to their intracellular niche in the host

R Martin Roop 2nd  1 , Jennifer M Gaines, Eric S Anderson, Clayton C Caswell, Daniel W Martin
Affiliations
Review

Survival of the fittest: how Brucella strains adapt to their intracellular niche in the host

R Martin Roop 2nd et al. Med Microbiol Immunol. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Brucella strains produce abortion and infertility in their natural hosts and a zoonotic disease in humans known as undulant fever. These bacteria do not produce classical virulence factors, and their capacity to successfully survive and replicate within a variety of host cells underlies their pathogenicity. Extensive replication of the brucellae in placental trophoblasts is associated with reproductive tract pathology in natural hosts, and prolonged persistence in macrophages leads to the chronic infections that are a hallmark of brucellosis in both natural hosts and humans. This review describes how Brucella strains have efficiently adapted to their intracellular lifestyle in the host.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gene products that influence their intracellular trafficking of Brucella strains in host cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Subversion of host immune defenses allows Brucella strains to establish and maintain chronic infections in their hosts. Brucella gene products linked to immune evasion are shown in blue font.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Gene products that play important roles in allowing Brucella strains to resist the environmental stresses they encounter during intracellular replication in the host.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alcantara RB, Read RD, Valderas MW, Brown TD, Roop RM., II Intact purine biosynthesis pathways are required for wild-type virulence of Brucella abortus 2308 in the BALB/c mouse model. Infect. Immun. 2004;72:4911–4917. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alexander B, Schnurrenberger PR, Brown RR. Numbers of Brucella abortus in the placenta, umbilicus and fetal fluid of two naturally infected cows. Vet. Rec. 1981;108:500. - PubMed
    1. Allen CA, Adams LG, Ficht TA. Transposon-derived Brucella abortus rough mutants are attenuated and exhibit reduced intracellular survival. Infect. Immun. 1998;66:1008–1016. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almirón M, Martínez M, Sanjuan N, Ugalde RA. Ferrochelatase is present in Brucella abortus and is critical for its intracellular survival and virulence. Infect. Immun. 2001;69:6225–6230. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alton GG. Brucella melitensis. In: Nielsen K, Duncan JR, editors. Animal brucellosis. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 1990. pp. 383–409.

Publication types

MeSH terms