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General introduction to vacuolar pathogens
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A vacuolar pathogen is one that enters and proliferates with a membranous sac,
that we call the vacuole in the host cell. There are several vacuolar,
bacterial, and protozoan pathogens that infect mammalian cells and cause a variety
of human disease (Figure 1 right). |
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The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum infects the mature red cell.
This host cell is enucleated, devoid of intracellular organelles and de novo protein and
lipid synthesis. The erythrocyte provides a simplified model system to study vacuolar
infection (Figure 2 below). An alternate strategy to dissect pathogenic vacuoles is to exploit
the mutants of the organism in conjunction with host mutants. Thus, pathogenic bacterium
Salmonella typhimurium with its advanced genetics provides an ideal system to study vacuolar
infection (Figure 3 below). Genome scanning methodologies (such as microarrays) allow the
development of drug targets in each organism.
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