Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21862628›Full record

ArticlemBio2011

Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system requirements for Coxiella burnetii growth in human macrophages.

Paul A Beare, Stacey D Gilk, Charles L Larson, Joshua Hill, Christopher M Stead, Anders Omsland, Diane C Cockrell, Dale Howe, Daniel E Voth, Robert A Heinzen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in mBio, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 175 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
175citing papers in PubMed
8.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

175 citing papers in PubMed, 255 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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  10. TFEB and MCOLN1 are important forFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026
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  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. A diverse family of bacterial deubiquitinases is defined by theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Bioluminescent imaging to investigateInfection and immunity · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

115 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Paul A BeareCoxiella Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA.
Stacey D Gilk
Charles L Larson
Joshua Hill
Christopher M Stead
Anders Omsland
Diane C Cockrell
Dale Howe
Daniel E Voth
Robert A Heinzen
National Institutes of Health · USNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · USUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences · US

Funding

Cellular and Developmental Biology of Coxiella burnetiiZIAAI000931 · NIAID · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES · PI HEINZEN, ROBERT A · 2009 to 2023
$11.8M
Role of the Coxiella burnetii Cryptic Plasmid in Host Cell ParasitismR01AI087669 · NIAID · UNIV OF ARKANSAS FOR MED SCIS · PI VOTH, DANIEL E · 2010 to 2014
$1.9M
Intramural NIH HHSNIAID NIH HHS R01 AI087669NIAID NIH HHS R01AI087669
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Central to Q fever pathogenesis is replication of the causative agent, Coxiella burnetii, within a phagolysosome-like parasitophorous vacuole (PV) in mononuclear phagocytes. C. burnetii modulates PV biogenesis and other host cell functions, such as apoptotic signaling, presumably via the activity of proteins delivered to the host cytosol by a Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system (T4BSS). In this study, we utilized a C. burnetii strain carrying IcmD inactivated by the Himar1 transposon to investigate the requirements for Dot/Icm function in C. burnetii parasitism of human THP-1 macrophage-like cells. The icmD::Tn mutant failed to secrete characterized T4BSS substrates, a defect that correlated with deficient replication, PV development, and apoptosis protection. Restoration of type IVB secretion and intracellular growth of the icmD::Tn mutant required complementation with icmD, -J, and -B, indicating a polar effect of the transposon insertion on downstream dot/icm genes. Induction of icmDJB expression at 1 day postinfection resulted in C. burnetii replication and PV generation. Collectively, these data prove that T4BSS function is required for productive infection of human macrophages by C. burnetii. However, illustrating the metabolic flexibility of C. burnetti, the icmD::Tn mutant could replicate intracellularly when sequestered in a PV generated by wild-type bacteria, where Dot/Icm function is provided in trans, and within a phenotypically similar PV generated by the protozoan parasite Leishmania amazonensis, where host cells are devoid of Dot/Icm T4BSS effector proteins.

Indexed as

Bacterial Secretion SystemsAnimalsBacterial ProteinsCell LineCoxiella burnetiiHumansMacrophagesProtein TransportQ FeverVacuolesBacterial ProteinsBacterial Secretion Systems

Identifiers

PMID21862628
PMCPMC3163939
OpenAlexW2119979039

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.