On the link between cell cycle and infection of the Alphaproteobacterium Brucella abortus
Authors:Michaël Deghelt, Jean-Jacques Letesson, Xavier De Bolle
URBM, UNamur, Belgium.
Keywords:
Brucella, Caulobacter, bacterial cell cycle, cellular infection, intracellular trafficking.
Related Article(s)?
Deghelt M, Mullier C, Sternon JF, Francis N, Laloux G, Dotreppe D, Van der Henst C, Jacobs-Wagner C, Letesson JJ, De Bolle X (2014). G1-arrested newborn cells are the predominant infectious form of the pathogen Brucella abortus. Nat Commun. 5:4366. , 10.1038/ncomms5366
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Please cite this article as:
Michaël Deghelt, Jean-Jacques Letesson, Xavier De Bolle (2014). On the link between cell cycle and infection of the Alphaproteobacterium Brucella abortus. Microbial Cell 1(10): 346-348.
© 2014 Deghelt et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
Bacteria of the Brucella genus are responsible for brucellosis, a worldwide zoonosis. These bacteria are known to have a peculiar intracellular trafficking, with a first long and non-proliferative endosomal stage and a second proliferation stage, often associated with its localization of the bacteria in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, the status of the bacterial cell cycle during the non-proliferative phase was still unknown. In a recent study [Nat. Communic. 5:4366], we followed the cell cycle of B. abortus in culture and inside the host cells. In culture, B. abortus initiates the replication of its large chromosome before the small chromosome. The origin and terminator regions of these two chromosomes display distinct localization and dynamics within B. abortus. In HeLa cells and RAW264.7 macrophages, the bacteria in G1 (i.e. before the initiation of chromosomes replication) are preferentially found during the endosomal stage of the infection. During this period, growth is also arrested. The cell cycle arrest and resume during the B. abortus trafficking in host cell suggest that like the model Alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus, these bacteria are able to block their cell cycle at the G1 phase when starvation is sensed.
doi: 10.15698/mic2014.10.171
Volume 1, pp. 346 to 348, published 29/09/2014.