Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete: making a living as a stealth pathogen

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Authors

RADOLF Justin D. DEKA Ranjit K. ANAND Arvind ŠMAJS David NORGARD Michael V. YANG X. Frank

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Nature Reviews Microbiology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Medicine

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.141
Field Microbiology, virology
Keywords OUTER-MEMBRANE PROTEIN; PYROPHOSPHATE-DEPENDENT PHOSPHOFRUCTOKINASE; LYME-DISEASE SPIROCHETE; WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCE; BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI; SECONDARY SYPHILIS; PHOSPHOTRANSFERASE SYSTEM; BINDING PROTEIN; SUBSP PALLIDUM; ANTIGENIC VARIATION
Description The past two decades have seen a worldwide resurgence in infections caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the syphilis spirochete. The well-recognized capacity of the syphilis spirochete for early dissemination and immune evasion has earned it the designation ‘the stealth pathogen’. Despite the many hurdles to studying syphilis pathogenesis, most notably the inability to culture and to genetically manipulate T. pallidum, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in elucidating the structural, physiological, and regulatory facets of T. pallidum pathogenicity. In this Review, we integrate this eclectic body of information to garner fresh insights into the highly successful parasitic lifestyles of the syphilis spirochete and related pathogenic treponemes.
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