Virulence and the heat shock response

Uri Gophna, Eliora Z. Ron*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

The major adaptive response to elevation in temperature is the heat shock response that involves the induction of many proteins - called heat shock proteins. These include chaperones, proteases, alternative sigma factors and other regulatory and structural proteins. The heat shock response is also turned on by other stress conditions, such as oxidative stress or pH changes. Bacterial entry into the host organism involves a significant environmental change, which is expected to induce the heat shock response. Indeed, some of the heat shock proteins are themselves virulence factors while others affect pathogenesis indirectly, by increasing bacterial resistance to host defenses or regulating virulence genes. The cross talk between heat shock and virulence genes is discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)453-461
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Medical Microbiology
Volume292
Issue number7-8
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2003

Funding

FundersFunder number
German Israeli Science Foundation
Manja and Morris Leigh Chair for Biophysics and Biotechnology
Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Iowa

    Keywords

    • Chaperones
    • Heat shock
    • Pathogenesis
    • Proteases
    • Stress response
    • Virulence

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