Nonvertebrate magic size hosts represent handy tools for the analysis of host-pathogen interactions because they facilitate the identification of bacterial virulence factors and allow the discovery of novel components involved in host innate immune responses. triple mutant and a mutant suggested that additional, as-yet-unidentified components of type III secretion are involved in virulence in model and the results of cytopathology assays performed with a mammalian tissue culture system validated the use of for the study of the TTSS. The human opportunistic bacterial pathogen has proven to be a particularly versatile pathogen that is capable of causing diseases in plants, nematodes, and insects as well as in mice and humans (13, 31, CDK7 36, 47, 51). One particular strain, PA14, originally isolated from a human burn wound patient, has been used to demonstrate that virulence-related genes important for mouse pathogenesis can be identified by screening for less virulent mutants in plants or nematodes (36, 48, 52). In general, the use of nonvertebrate model hosts has facilitated the identification of bacterial virulence factors in a number of human bacterial pathogens in addition to and has led to the identification of new components involved in host innate immune responses (1, 9, 14, 24, 35, 36, 38, 41, 48, 52). In gram-negative plant and animal pathogens, a highly conserved feature of pathogenesis is the so-called type III secretion system (TTSS) required for the translocation of effector proteins (virulence factors) directly into the cytosol of target eukaryotic cells (22, 29, 34). In mammals, the main targets of the translocated effector proteins include the host cytoskeleton and innate immune response pathways of macrophages and epithelial cells. For example, in spp. and and genes, is vital for pathogenesis absolutely. For effector protein are in charge of disruption from the actin cytoskeleton in sponsor cells (21, 23, Canagliflozin manufacturer 42, 53), inhibition of DNA synthesis (39), disturbance with cell matrix adherence (40), creation of Canagliflozin manufacturer epithelial cell damage (4, 18, 19, 25, 27, 53), inhibition of internalization (10, 23), Canagliflozin manufacturer and induction of apoptosis (25, 32). Oddly enough, however, regardless of the participation from the TTSS in pathogenesis in a number of pet and vegetable pathogens researched to day, no mutations in TTSS-related genes had been determined among a complete of 8,200 stress PA14 arbitrary transposon Tninsertion mutants screened for reduced virulence in either vegetation (lettuce) or nematodes (insertion occasions. These outcomes recommended either that Tnwas not really focusing on TTSS-related genes in PA14 or how the TTSS had not been a significant feature of pathogenesis in vegetation and nematodes. Lately, 1,560 PA14 Tnmutants (that got previously been screened in (S. Miyata et al., unpublished data). PA14 kills at a 50% lethal dosage (LD50) of around 1.0 to 10.0 (based on experimental circumstances) when bacterial cells are injected directly into the body cavity (31). This screen led to the identification of a mutation in the TTSS gene of strain PA14 (S. Miyata et al., unpublished data), suggesting that in contrast to plants and nematodes, and perhaps other insects would be appropriate alternative nonmammalian hosts for identification and study of the components of the TTSS. Indeed, a recent publication reporting work that was carried out independently from the experiments reported here showed that the TTSS plays a key role in virulence in (16). In the present study, we used the model system to examine the TTSS and its role in pathogenesis. We show that strain PA14 does not express ExoS and that although none of the other three known effector proteins (ExoT, ExoU, and ExoY) is essential for virulence, both ExoT and ExoU play significant roles in killing. Moreover, because a triple mutant was less attenuated in virulence than a mutant, we conclude that additional TTSS virulence components remain to be identified. Finally, we found a high level of correlation between the results obtained with and the results of cytopathology assays performed with CHO cells, demonstrating that the model system represents a useful tool for identification and study of the components of type III secretion in and 200 g/ml for (1.17-kb in-frame deletion of (1.3-kb in-frame deletion of (2.0-kb deletion of (1.1-kb deletion of (and deletions)This study????(and deletions)This study????(and deletions)This study????(deletions)This study????PA103Virulent lung isolate of strain used for mating constructs into strain used as a food source in assays36Plasmids????pUCP19Cloning vector that replicates stably in Ampr50????pEX18ApPositive selection suicide vector; Ampr45????pEX18from PA14This study????pEX18killing assays. Overnight PA14 cultures grown in LB.