Contemporary Perspectives on Bacterial Virulence Factors
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Microbiology and Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 678
Special Issue Editors
Interests: bacterial virulence
Interests: pathogen; host–microbe interactions; medical microbiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Bacterial pathogens are classified using a variety of criteria, with one of them being their capacity to produce virulence factors (VFs) that enable them to cause damage to a mammalian host. VFs are classified according to their capacity to colonize specific body sites, resist phagocytic killing, induce an aberrant immune response, or incapacitate eukaryotic cells through cytolytic and enzymatic mechanisms. Just as original microbe hunters characterized the causative agents of infectious diseases using Koch’s postulates as guideposts, modern microbiologists have endeavored to define the criteria used to characterize a bacterial VF. Sequence homologies and in vitro methodologies to characterize the factor’s mechanism of action are currently used to identify new VFs. We suggest that VF characterization has become subject to reasoning errors and encourage considering the ecological view of their origins to overcome anthropocentric bias. In this Special Issue, we will initiate a conversation by first challenging VF characterization using examples of two well-studied bacterial pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Subsequent articles will provide arguments supporting state-of-the-art processes for VF designation and characterization.
Dr. Matthew Jackson
Dr. Kevin Theis
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- bacterial pathogens
- virulence factors
- immune response
- staphylococcus aureus
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
