Citrobacter rodentium infection causes both mitochondrial dysfunction and intestinal epithelial barrier disruption in vivo: role of mitochondrial associated protein (Map)


Back to previous page
Authors: Ma, CX; Wickham, ME; Guttman, JA; Deng, WY; Walker, J; Madsen, KL; Jacobson, K; Vogl, WA; Finlay, BB; Vallance, BA
Year: 2006
Journal: Cell Microbiol. 8: 1669-1686   Article Link (DOI)
Title: Citrobacter rodentium infection causes both mitochondrial dysfunction and intestinal epithelial barrier disruption in vivo: role of mitochondrial associated protein (Map)
Abstract: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli are non-invasive attach- ing/effacing (A/E) bacterial pathogens that infect their host’s intestinal epithelium, causing severe diar- rhoeal disease. These bacteria utilize a type III secre- tion apparatus to deliver effector molecules into host cells, subverting cellular function. Mitochondrial associated protein (Map) is a multifunctional effector protein that targets host cell mitochondria and con- tributes to infection-induced epithelial barrier dys- function in vitro. Unfortunately, the relevance of these actions to the pathogenesis of EPEC-induced disease is uncertain. Using Citrobacter rodentium, a mouse- adapted A/E bacterium, we found that Map colocal- ized with host cell mitochondria, and that in vivo infection led to a disruption of mitochondrial mor- phology in infected colonocytes as assessed by electron microscopy. Histochemical staining for the mitochondrial enzyme succinate dehydrogenase also revealed a significant loss of mitochondrial respira- tory function in the infected intestinal epithelium; however, both pathologies were attenuated in mice infected with a Dmap strain. C. rodentium Map was also implicated in the disruption of epithelial barrier function both in vitro and in vivo. These studies thus advance our understanding of how A/E pathogens subvert host cell functions and cause disease, dem- onstrating that Map contributes to the functional disruption of the intestinal epithelium during enteric infection by C. rodentium.
Back to previous page
 

Please send suggestions for improving this publication database to sass-support@sfu.ca.
Departmental members may update their publication list.