Abstract
Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and Corynebacterium ulcerans share one distinctive feature: they are all putative carriers of the diphtheria toxin (DT), encoded by a β-corynephage integrated into the genome. Due to its medical relevance, C. diphtheriae may be the most highly investigated species of the genus Corynebacterium. Nevertheless, systemic infections caused by C. ulcerans are increasingly being reported indicating that this species is an emerging pathogen today. C. diphtheriae, C. pseudotuberculosis and C. ulcerans are able to colonize different types of epithelial cells in a strain-specific manner, independent of the presence of the tox gene. However, the molecular mechanisms contributing to host colonization are barely understood. This review gives a comprehensive update of recent data concerning the adhesion properties of toxigenic corynebacteria, demonstrating that adhesion is a multi-factorial process.
Highlights
Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and Corynebacterium ulcerans are, among others, pathogenic species of the genus Corynebacterium
Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and Corynebacterium ulcerans share one distinctive feature: they are all putative carriers of the diphtheria toxin (DT), encoded by a β-corynephage integrated into the genome
From 102 cases of infections by toxigenic corynebacteria that have been reported in the UK between 1986 and 2008, 59 of the patients were infected by C. ulcerans, 42 with C. diphtheriae and only one with C. pseudotuberculosis [40]
Summary
Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and Corynebacterium ulcerans are, among others, pathogenic species of the genus Corynebacterium. Corynebacteria are closely related to members of the genus Mycobacterium, Nocardia and Rhodococcus, which are referred to as the CMNR group [8,9,10,11]. These organisms are characterized by a complex cell wall structure, and high G + C content DNA. C. diphtheriae is the classical etiological agent of diphtheria, an inflammatory disease of the upper respiratory tract, and cases of cutaneous diphtheria occur Systemic infections such as endocarditis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia and others are increasingly being reported [13,14,15]. Regardless of the presence of the tox gene, all three species are able to adhere to epithelial cells in a strainspecific manner (Figure 1, unpublished data)
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