Waiting for the right moment: Bacterial pathogens delay their entry into cells
Certain pathogens make themselves at home in the human body by invading cells and living off the plentiful amenities on offer there. However, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, together with colleagues at Harvard University, have discovered a contrary strategy to ensure infection success: some pathogens can actually delay their entry into cells to ensure their survival. Upon contact with a cell, these bacteria engage signalling molecules in the cell and trigger a local strengthening of the cellular skeleton that resists pathogen entry. This strategy, unknown until now, is used by the sexually transmitted bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, as well as by an important intestinal pathogen. The findings will be published online next week in the open-access journal PloS Biology...