Importance of nutrient acquisition and metabolic adaptation in intracellular bacterial parasitism.

In order to develop a successful infectious process, intracellular bacterial pathogens must be able to utilize optimally the nutrients available in the cellular compartment where they reside and adapt their metabolism to this peculiar environment. Depending on their host cell(s) and infectious cycle, intracellular bacteria have evolved very distinct strategies. For example, obligate intracellular pathogens must possess specific nutrient acquisition attributes as when compared to facultative intracellular pathogens. Similarly, pathogens able to persist chronically present specific adaption capacities as compared to pathogens residing only transiently intracellularly. Some bacteria are able to invade and multiply in a broad variety of cells, including professional phagocytes and non-phagocytic cell, probably reflecting a broad panel of nutritional attributes and efficient metabolic adaptation. Finally, tissue and host tropism are also likely to rely on bacterial nutritional and metabolic adaptation.
Remarkably, all the recent genome wide screens revealed that an important proportion of the genes involved in intracellular survival and virulence were related to metabolic and nutritional functions. However, the relationship between nutrition and the life cycle of intracellular bacteria is yet poorly understood.
This Research Topic will examine the different strategies developed by intracellular bacteria to survive nutritional starvation. Given examples of bacteria were selected, which are distributed in distinct intracellular niches.
Articles will focus on the most recent findings regarding the molecular mechanisms adapted by these bacteria to cope with the harsh intracellular environment of infected host cells.