Labrousse A, Chauvet S, Couillault C, Kurz C L, Ewbank J J
Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, INSERM/CNRS/Université de la Méditerranée, Case 906, 13288 Cedex 9,., Marseille, France.
Curr Biol. 2000 Nov 30;10(23):1543-5. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(00)00833-2.
The idea of using simple, genetically tractable host organisms to study the virulence mechanisms of pathogens dates back at least to the work of Darmon and Depraitère [1]. They proposed using the predatory amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as a model host, an approach that has proved to be valid in the case of the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila [2]. Research from the Ausubel laboratory has clearly established the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an attractive model host for the study of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenesis [3]. P. aeruginosa is a bacterium that is capable of infecting plants, insects and mammals. Other pathogens with a similarly broad host range have also been shown to infect C. elegans [3,4]. Nevertheless, the need to determine the universality of C. elegans as a model host, especially with regards pathogens that have a naturally restricted host specificity, has rightly been expressed [5]. We report here that the enterobacterium Salmonella typhimurium, generally considered to be a highly adapted pathogen with a narrow range of target hosts [6], is capable of infecting and killing C. elegans. Furthermore, mutant strains that exhibit a reduced virulence in mammals were also attenuated for their virulence in C. elegans, showing that the nematode may constitute a useful model system for the study of this important human pathogen.
利用简单的、基因易于操作的宿主生物体来研究病原体毒力机制的想法至少可以追溯到达蒙（Darmon）和德普拉泰尔（Depraitère）的工作[1]。他们提议使用掠食性变形虫盘基网柄菌（Dictyostelium discoideum）作为模型宿主，在细胞内病原体嗜肺军团菌（Legionella pneumophila）的研究中，这种方法已被证明是有效的[2]。奥苏贝尔（Ausubel）实验室的研究明确证实，秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）是研究铜绿假单胞菌（Pseudomonas aeruginosa）致病机制的一个有吸引力的模型宿主[3]。铜绿假单胞菌是一种能够感染植物、昆虫和哺乳动物的细菌。其他具有类似广泛宿主范围的病原体也已被证明能感染秀丽隐杆线虫[3,4]。然而，人们也正确地表达了确定秀丽隐杆线虫作为模型宿主的普遍性的必要性，特别是对于那些具有天然受限宿主特异性的病原体而言[5]。我们在此报告，通常被认为是一种高度适应、靶宿主范围狭窄的病原体的鼠伤寒沙门氏菌（Salmonella typhimurium），能够感染并杀死秀丽隐杆线虫。此外，在哺乳动物中表现出毒力降低的突变菌株在秀丽隐杆线虫中的毒力也减弱了，这表明线虫可能构成一个用于研究这种重要人类病原体的有用模型系统。
