Bacterial Pathogens and Their Virulence Factors

Bacterial Pathogens and their Virulence Factors contains a detailed description of 32 major bacterial pathogens that affect human health and their associated virulence determinants. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the different types and classes of general virulence factors involved in host cell adherence and invasion, dissemination within the host, host cell damage, and evasion of host defense systems, as well as mechanisms by which these virulence factors are regulated. Chapters 2 through 33 give concise descriptions of the disease states associated with the 32 bacterial genera and their major pathogenic species, along with an in-depth description of the individual virulence factors that have been found to be functionally involved in pathogenicity. A detailed bibliography derived from primary literature and review articles accompanies each of these chapters, allowing the reader to delve more deeply into individual pathogens and their virulence determinants. Chapter 34 discusses the exciting possibilities and initial successes of using detailed information on a pathogen’s virulence toolkit to design new therapeutics aimed at specific virulence traits.

Dr. Johnson received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Miami University in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University in 1983. His doctoral research with Dr. Ronald Somerville focused on the isolation of new mutants that affected transcriptional regulation of amino acid biosynthesis in E. coli. Post-doctoral work with Dr. John Pringle at the University of Michigan centered on control of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle, with the initial discovery of the Cdc42 GTPase and its role in regulating the actin cytoskeleton. Dr. Johnson’s research in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont extended the analysis of Cdc42 in S. cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. In addition, anti-virulence studies with small molecule inhibitors of the budded-to-hyphal transition virulence determinant in C. albicans were undertaken. Dr. Johnson’s primary teaching responsibilities are introductory Microbiology and Infectious Disease and advanced Clinical Microbiology, which provided the impetus for writing this book.