Citrobacter Rodentium: Infection, Inflammation and the Microbiota

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Microbiol

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Microbiology

Date 2014 Aug 5

PMID 25088150

Citations 275

Authors

James W Collins

Kristie M Keeney

Valerie F Crepin

Vijay A K Rathinam

Katherine A Fitzgerald

B Brett Finlay

Gad Frankel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Citrobacter rodentium is a mucosal pathogen of mice that shares several pathogenic mechanisms with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), which are two clinically important human gastrointestinal pathogens. Thus, C. rodentium has long been used as a model to understand the molecular basis of EPEC and EHEC infection in vivo. In this Review, we discuss recent studies in which C. rodentium has been used to study mucosal immunology, including the deregulation of intestinal inflammatory responses during bacteria-induced colitis and the role of the intestinal microbiota in mediating resistance to colonization by enteric pathogens. These insights should help to elucidate the roles of mucosal inflammatory responses and the microbiota in the virulence of enteric pathogens.

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