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Genetics in the Host‐ Mycobacterium ulcerans interaction
Author(s) -
Fevereiro João,
Fraga Alexandra G.,
Pedrosa Jorge
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
immunological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.839
H-Index - 223
eISSN - 1600-065X
pISSN - 0105-2896
DOI - 10.1111/imr.12958
Subject(s) - mycobacterium ulcerans , buruli ulcer , biology , outbreak , virology , host (biology) , immune system , pathogen , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , genetics , medicine , pathology
Abstract Buruli ulcer is an emerging infectious disease associated with high morbidity and unpredictable outbreaks. It is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans , a slow‐growing pathogen evolutionarily shaped by the acquisition of a plasmid involved in the production of a potent macrolide‐like cytotoxin and by genome rearrangements and downsizing. These events culminated in an uncommon infection pattern, whereby M. ulcerans is both able to induce the initiation of the inflammatory cascade and the cell death of its proponents, as well as to survive within the phagosome and in the extracellular milieu. In such extreme conditions, the host is sentenced to rely on a highly orchestrated genetic landscape to be able to control the infection. We here revisit the dynamics of M. ulcerans infection, drawing parallels from other mycobacterioses and integrating the most recent knowledge on its evolution and pathogenicity in its interaction with the host immune response.