2005: Virulence-associated type IV secretion systems of Bartonella.

1: Trends Microbiol. 2005 May 31; [Epub ahead of print] Related
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Virulence-associated type IV secretion systems of Bartonella.

Schroder G, Dehio C.

Division of Molecular Microbiology, Biozentrum of the University of
Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.

Type IV secretion systems (T4SSs) are transport machineries of
Gram-negative bacteria that mediate interbacterial DNA-transfer, and
secretion of virulence factors into eukaryotic target cells. A growing
number of human pathogenic bacteria use T4SSs for intercellular
delivery of effector molecules that modify host cellular functions in
favour of the pathogen. Recent advances in studying the molecular
mechanisms of Bartonella pathogenesis have provided evidence for the
central roles of two distinct T4SSs, VirB/VirD4 and Trw, in the ability
of the bacteria to colonize, invade and persist within either vascular
endothelial cells or erythrocytes, respectively. The identification of
VirB/VirD4-transported substrates and the delineation of their
secretion signal have paved the way towards understanding the molecular
mechanisms underlying Bartonella-host cell interaction and modulation,
as well as the exploitation of this system for engineered substrate
delivery into mammalian target cells.

PMID: 15935675 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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