The cell biology of microbial infections : coming of age

Over the last few years, there has been remarkable progress in the understanding of the interaction of microbial pathogens with their hosts (Finlay and Cossart, 1997; Boquet et al., 1999; Cameron et al., 2000; Isberg and Barnes, 2001; Stebbins and Galán, 2001). The study of the cell biology and immunobiology of microbial infections is emerging as a corner stone of microbial pathogenesis research in the postgenomic era. These studies are allowing the identification and characterization of complex pathogenic mechanisms at the molecular, and even atomic, levels. Arguably, not since the introduction of molecular biology and molecular genetics has the field seen so many advances in the understanding of the biology of pathogenic microorganisms.

Microbial pathogens, big and small, have “learned” through the process of evolution how to modulate precisely...