Journal article
The Distributed Genome Hypothesis as a Rubric for Understanding Evolution in situ During Chronic Bacterial Biofilm Infectious Processes
FEMS immunology and medical microbiology, v 59(3), pp 269-279
Aug 2010
PMID: 20618850
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Most chronic infectious disease processes associated with bacteria are characterized by the formation of a biofilm which provides for bacterial attachment to the host tissue or implanted medical device. The biofilm protects the bacteria from the host’s adaptive immune response, as well as predation by phagocytic cells. However, the most insidious aspect of biofilm biology from the host’s point of view is that the biofilm provides an ideal setting for bacterial horizontal gene transfer (HGT). HGT provides for large-scale genome content changes
in situ
during the chronic infectious process. Obviously, for HGT processes to result in the reassortment of alleles and genes among bacterial strains the infection must be polyclonal (polymicrobial) in nature. In this review we marshal the evidence that all of the factors are present in biofilm infections to support HGT which results in the ongoing production of novel strains with unique combinations of genic characters and that the continual production of large numbers of novel, but related bacterial strains leads to persistence. This concept of an infecting population of bacteria undergoing mutagenesis to produce a ‘cloud’ of similar strains to confuse and overwhelm the host’s immune system parallels genetic diversity stratagies employed by viral and parasitic pathogens.
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Details
- Title
- The Distributed Genome Hypothesis as a Rubric for Understanding Evolution in situ During Chronic Bacterial Biofilm Infectious Processes
- Creators
- Garth D Ehrlich - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAAzad Ahmed - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAJosh Earl - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAN. Luisa Hiller - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAJ. William Costerton - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAPaul Stoodley - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAJ. Christopher Post - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAPatrick DeMeo - Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USAFen Ze Hu - Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 East North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, USA
- Publication Details
- FEMS immunology and medical microbiology, v 59(3), pp 269-279
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000279900400005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-77954653131
- Other Identifier
- 991014877794404721
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InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Microbiology