Understanding of bacterial virulence using the silkworm infection model.

Drug Discov Ther. 2016;10(1):30-33. (DOI: 10.5582/ddt.2016.01020)

Understanding of bacterial virulence using the silkworm infection model.

Kaito C

SUMMARY

We have used silkworms, larva of Bombyx mori, to investigate host-pathogen interactions. Silkworms have several advantages, such as high availability of a large number of animals and ease of injection of quantitative amounts of samples. Human pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa kill silkworms. In this review, I would like to summarize our approach identifying S. aureus virulence factors by using the silkworm infection model.

KEYWORDS: Bombyx mori, Staphylococcus aureus, virulence factors, infection model

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