Abstract

Many of the -proteobacteria establish long-term, often chronic, interactions with higher eukaryotes. These interactions range from pericellular colonization through facultative intracellular multiplication to obligate intracellular lifestyles. A common feature in this wide range of interactions is modulation of host-cell proliferation, which sometimes leads to the formation of tumour-like structures in which the bacteria can grow. Comparative genome analyses reveal genome reduction by gene loss in the intracellular -proteobacterial lineages, and genome expansion by gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer in the free-living species. In this review, we discuss -proteobacterial genome evolution and highlight strategies and mechanisms used by these bacteria to infect and multiply in eukaryotic cells.

Author affiliations

1. Laboratory of Plant Microbe Interactions (LIPM), CNRS-INRA, BP27, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France.
2. Department of Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Center, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18C, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
3. INSERM U431, UFR Medecine, CS83021, Avenue JF Kennedy, 30908 Nimes Cedex 02, France.

Correspondence to: David O'Callaghan¹ Email: docallaghan@univ-montp1.fr

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