Stress Response in the Pathogenic Yersinia Species
N. Kaye Horstman and Andrew J. Darwin
from: Stress Response in Microbiology (Edited by: Jose M. Requena). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2012)
Abstract
Pathogenic Yersinia species have long been studied as important causes of human disease and as model organisms to understand widely conserved mechanisms of bacterial virulence. Like all bacteria, these pathogens must respond to a variety of potentially damaging conditions to ensure their survival. This chapter begins by introducing the pathogenic Yersinia and the aspects of their lifestyles that are likely to require successful response to stress. The emphasis is primarily on conditions relevant to pathogenesis. Then, some genome-wide transcription and gene function studies that have identified or implicated stress response mechanisms are summarized. Next, more focused analyses of response to increased and decreased temperature, encounter with macrophages, and macrophage-like conditions are covered in more detail. Finally, the so-called extracytoplasmic stress responses (ESRs) that are activated by changes to the cell envelope will be described. Several of these ESRs have been directly associated with the infectious process in Yersinia. Inactivation of one, the phage-shock-protein (Psp) system, completely attenuates Y. enterocolitica. As a result, the Psp system has become the most extensively studied Yersinia stress response. Therefore, the final section specifically describes the regulation and function of this critical stress response system read more ...
