AUTHOR=Lina Taslima T. , Farris Tierra , Luo Tian , Mitra Shubhajit , Zhu Bing , McBride Jere W. 

TITLE=Hacker within! Ehrlichia chaffeensis Effector Driven Phagocyte Reprogramming Strategy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2016.00058

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2016.00058

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Ehrlichia chaffeensis</italic> is a small, gram negative, obligately intracellular bacterium that preferentially infects mononuclear phagocytes. It is the etiologic agent of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis (HME), an emerging life-threatening tick-borne zoonosis. Mechanisms by which <italic>E. chaffeensis</italic> establishes intracellular infection, and avoids host defenses are not well understood, but involve functionally relevant host-pathogen interactions associated with tandem and ankyrin repeat effector proteins. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie <italic>Ehrlichia</italic> host cellular reprogramming strategies that enable intracellular survival.</p>