Ja. Triccas et B. Gicquel, Life on the inside: Probing Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene expression during infection, IMM CELL B, 78(4), 2000, pp. 311-317
The identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes specifically express
ed during infection is a key step in understanding mycobacterial pathogenes
is. Such genes most likely encode products required for survival within the
host and for progressive infection. Recent advances in mycobacterial genet
ics have permitted the development of new techniques and the adaptation of
existing methods to analyse mycobacterial in vivo gene expression and virul
ence. This has revealed a subset of M. tuberculosis genes that are differen
tially expressed during infection and has demonstrated that a number of com
ponents contribute to the virulence of the organism. This information is ex
pected to provide new strategies to prevent tuberculosis infection, new tar
gets for antimicrobial therapy and new insights into the infectious process
.