Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 2 August 2005
Vol. 2005, Issue 295, p. tw279
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2952005tw279]

EDITORS' CHOICE

MICROBIOLOGY Act On Your Senses

When a pathogen enters its host, it sets off an intruder-alert system that ultimately mobilizes an immune attack force to deal with the offender. Is the host immune system perceived and responded to by the invader, just as a burglar might take evasive action upon hearing an alarm? Wu et al. find that Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common bacterial pathogen of lung and intestine, does just that. By using a cell surface protein to bind the host cytokine, interferon-{gamma}, the bacterium switches on at least two genes involved in the quorum-sensing system that governs growth and virulence within the host.

L. Wu, O. Estrada, O. Zaborina, M. Bains, L. Shen, J. E. Kohler, N. Patel, M. W. Musch, E. B. Chang, Y.-X. Fu, M. A. Jacobs, M. I. Nishimura, R. E. W. Hancock, J. R. Turner, J. C. Alverdy, Recognition of host immune activation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Science 309, 774-777 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Act On Your Senses. Sci. STKE 2005, tw279 (2005).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882