Nature Immunology4, 949 - 955 (2003)
Published online: 26 September 2003; | doi:10.1038/ni981
Survival perspectives from the world's most successful pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Suzanne M Hingley-Wilson, Vasan K Sambandamurthy
& William R Jacobs Jr
Suzanne M. Hingley-Wilson, Vasan K. Sambandamurthy and William R. Jacobs are in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to William R Jacobs Jr jacobsw@hhmi.org
Studying defined mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the mouse model of infection has led to the discovery of attenuated mutants that fall into several phenotypic classes. These mutants are categorized by their growth characteristics compared with those of wild-type M. tuberculosis, and include severe growth in vivo mutants, growth in vivo mutants, persistence mutants, pathology mutants and dissemination mutants. Here, examples of each of these mutant phenotypes are described and classified accordingly. Defining the importance of mycobacterial gene products responsible for in vivo growth, persistence and the induction of immunopathology will lead to a greater understanding of the host-pathogen interaction and potentially to new antimycobacterial treatment options.
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