by Methot PO, Alizon S
Abstract:
Until quite recently and since the late 19(th) century, medical microbiology has been based on the assumption that some micro-organisms are pathogens and others are not. This binary view is now strongly criticized and is even becoming untenable. We first provide a historical overview of the changing nature of host-parasite interactions, in which we argue that large-scale sequencing not only shows that identifying the roots of pathogenesis is much more complicated than previously thought, but also forces us to reconsider what a pathogen is. To address the challenge of defining a pathogen in post-genomic science, we present and discuss recent results that embrace the microbial genetic diversity (both within- and between-host) and underline the relevance of microbial ecology and evolution. By analyzing and extending earlier work on the concept of pathogen, we propose pathogenicity (or virulence) should be viewed as a dynamical feature of an interaction between a host and microbes.
Reference:
Methot PO, Alizon S (2014) What is a pathogen? Toward a process view of host-parasite interactions. Virulence. 5(8): 775-85.
Bibtex Entry:
@article{MethotAlizon2014,
Abstract = {Until quite recently and since the late 19(th) century, medical microbiology has been based on the assumption that some micro-organisms are pathogens and others are not. This binary view is now strongly criticized and is even becoming untenable. We first provide a historical overview of the changing nature of host-parasite interactions, in which we argue that large-scale sequencing not only shows that identifying the roots of pathogenesis is much more complicated than previously thought, but also forces us to reconsider what a pathogen is. To address the challenge of defining a pathogen in post-genomic science, we present and discuss recent results that embrace the microbial genetic diversity (both within- and between-host) and underline the relevance of microbial ecology and evolution. By analyzing and extending earlier work on the concept of pathogen, we propose pathogenicity (or virulence) should be viewed as a dynamical feature of an interaction between a host and microbes.},
Author = {Methot, Pierre-Olivier and Alizon, Samuel},
Date-Added = {2015-04-08 14:41:32 +0000},
Date-Modified = {2015-04-08 15:05:55 +0000},
Doi = {10.4161/21505594.2014.960726},
Journal = {Virulence},
Journal-Full = {Virulence},
Keywords = {disease; ecology; evolution; infection; process; virulence},
Number = {8},
Pages = {775-85},
Pmid = {25483864},
Pst = {ppublish},
Title = {{What is a pathogen? Toward a process view of host-parasite interactions}},
Url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/21505594.2014.960726},
Volume = {5},
Year = {2014},
Bdsk-Url-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/21505594.2014.960726}}