Mechanism of Mycoplasma gallisepticum host cell invasion

Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a significant respiratory pathogen of chickens and turkey causing great economic losses to the poultry industry. This agent has proved to be a suitable model organism for pathogenic mycoplasmas to get more insight into the strategies of infection and disease caused by these wall-less bacteria at the cellular and molecular levels. One such strategy is host cell invasion which seems to play a key role for crossing the mucosal barrier and for establishing systemic and chronic infections. Our recent observation that M. gallisepticum is able to invade chicken red blood cells in vitro and in vivo has been a major breakthrough, as this may have enormous implications for understanding the pathogenic pathways and molecular infection biology of this particular agent as well as of other pathogenic mycoplasma species which seem to use similar strategies for host colonization. This research project investigates the molecular and cellular mechanism of M. gallisepticum host cell invasion by predominantly focusing on chicken erythrocytes as host target cells. The major goal of this project is to elucidate how the cell invasion process of M. gallisepticum is taking place. To reach this goal, previously established well- defined clonal variants and mutants of M. gallisepticum which have totally or partially lost expression of particular cytadherence-associated proteins and differ in their cell invasion capacity, will be used in in vitro assays to identify the molecular players of the organism and of the eukaryotic host cell which are contributing to the invasion process. Unravelling the underlying mechanism and the factors involved in M. gallisepticum host cell invasion, will allow to gain a deeper understanding of the pathobiology and virulence of M. gallisepticum and its molecular strategy by which it establishes a systemic, chronic infection in the avian host, with the long-term perspective to develop new therapeutical drugs or vaccines for a better protection of poultry against this pathogen.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a significant respiratory pathogen of chickens and turkey causing great economic losses to the poultry industry. This agent has proved to be a suitable model organism for pathogenic mycoplasmas to get more insight into the strategies of infection and disease caused by these wall-less bacteria at the cellular and molecular levels. One such strategy is host cell invasion which seems to play a key role for crossing the mucosal barrier and for establishing systemic and chronic infections. Our recent observation that M. gallisepticum is able to invade chicken red blood cells in vitro and in vivo has been a major breakthrough, as this may have enormous implications for understanding the pathogenic pathways and molecular infection biology of this particular agent as well as of other pathogenic mycoplasma species which seem to use similar strategies for host colonization. This research project investigates the molecular and cellular mechanism of M. gallisepticum host cell invasion by predominantly focusing on chicken erythrocytes as host target cells. The major goal of this project is to elucidate how the cell invasion process of M. gallisepticum is taking place. To reach this goal, previously established well- defined clonal variants and mutants of M. gallisepticum which have totally or partially lost expression of particular cytadherence-associated proteins and differ in their cell invasion capacity, will be used in in vitro assays to identify the molecular players of the organism and of the eukaryotic host cell which are contributing to the invasion process. Unravelling the underlying mechanism and the factors involved in M. gallisepticum host cell invasion, will allow to gain a deeper understanding of the pathobiology and virulence of M. gallisepticum and its molecular strategy by which it establishes a systemic, chronic infection in the avian host, with the long-term perspective to develop new therapeutical drugs or vaccines for a better protection of poultry against this pathogen.