Virulence, bacterial

The initial event in the pathogenesis of most bacterial infections is the attachment of the bacteria to the mucosal surface. This probably occurs by a receptor mechanism that exhibits a high degree of cellular specificity. Capsular polysaccharides have not been implicated in this 

Polysaccharides of Bacteria, Frequently Found in Human Flora, 

That Cross-react with the Polysaccharide Capsules of Human Pathogenic Bacteria 

Pathogen Cross-reacting organism Structure References 

Neisseria meningitidis Group A Group B Group C Bacillus pumilis Streptococcus fecalis Escherichia coli K1 Escherichia coli K92 2-acetamido-2-deoxymannosyl phosphate residues - 8)aD-NeupAc(2 - and its OAc+ variant — 8) D-NeupAc(2 — 9) D-NeupAc(2 — 221 7 191 186 

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There are several other host factors present that should be mentioned that inhibit what are known as bacterial virulence factors. In general, these virulence factors are mechanisms that bacteria utilize to cause infection and/or ensure their survival. 

Pathogenic bacteria often make use of siderophores to obtain iron from their host organisms, and consequently the ironbinding capacity of the siderophore is closely related to the bacterial virulence. Enterobactin (1) is the natural siderophore... 

Bacterial virulence factor /8-solenoid with L-, T-type cross sections and left-handed twist... 

Fur is itself part of the family of gene regulatory proteins throughout many bacterial species. The major subclass is mainly involved, like Fur in E. coli, in the control of iron homeostasis, but it can also function in acid tolerance and protection against oxidative stress. Fur also controls the iron-regulated expression of bacterial virulence determinants. One class of the Fur family, Zur, is involved in the regulation of zinc uptake (see below). 

Mecsas, J., and Strauss, E. (1996). Molecular mechanisms of bacterial virulence type III secretion and pathogenicity islands. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 2, 270—288. 

His major scientific interests are bacterial virulence and various aspects of bacteriocins and toxins including quorum sensing regulation, mode of action, and mechanisms involved in immunity and receptor targeting. 

An important principle to be emphasized is that there is no single optimal dose for any given antibiotic. There are too many variables such as host resistance, bacterial virulence, bacterial antibiotic sensitivity and site of infection to allow a single dosage recommendation to cover all situations. While many disease problems can be covered by routine dosage levels, special situations may require marked elevation of dosage or perhaps even allow for a reduced dosage schedule. 

Deretic, V., M. J. Schurr, J. C. Boucher, and D. W. Martin 1994. Conversion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to mucoidy in cystic fibrosis Environmental stress and regulation of bacterial virulence by alternative sigma factors. Journal of Bacteriology 176 2773-2780. 

Known classes of enzymes that are involved in regulating sensory signal transduction and virulence in bacteria have drawn attention as targets for novel antibacterial agents that might be especially effective in combating bacterial virulence [19-22], Bacterial two-component kinases are the best-known class of en-... 

M Dziejman, JJ Mekalanos. Two-component signal transduction and its role in the expression of bacterial virulence factors. In JA Hoch, TJ Silhavy, eds. Two-component signal transduction. Washington, DC ASM Press, 1995, pp 305-317. 

Bottcher T, Sieber SA (2009) Structurally refined p-lactones as potent inhibitors of devastating bacterial virulence factors. ChemBioChem 10 663-666... 

Hensel, M., Shea, J., Waterman, S., Mundy, R., Nikolaus, T., Banks, G., Vazquez-Torres, A., Gleeson, C., Fang, F., Holden, D. Genes encoding putative effector proteins of the type III secretion system of Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 are required for bacterial virulence and proliferation in macrophages. Mol Microbiol 30 (1998) 163-174. 

Nomura, K., DebRoy, S., Lee, Y.H., Pumplin, N., Jones, J., He, S.Y. A bacterial virulence protein suppresses host innate immunity to cause plant disease. Science 313 (2006) 220-223. 

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