ArticlePLoS biology2017
Bordetella bronchiseptica exploits the complex life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum as an amplifying transmission vector.
Article in PLoS biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lives in a gram of soil: linking life cycle biology to soil ecology.The ISME journal · 2026Review
- Architecture and regulatory functions of c-di-GMP signaling in classical Bordetella species.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Molecular and serological incidences ofOpen veterinary journal · 2025Article
- Copper management strategies in obligate bacterial symbionts: balancing cost and benefit.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2024Article
- Predation-resistant Pseudomonas bacteria engage in symbiont-like behavior with the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.The ISME journal · 2023Article
- Avirulent phenotype promotesEmerging microbes & infections · 2023Article
- Genomic, morphological, and biochemical analyses of a multi-metal resistant but multi-drug susceptible strain of Bordetella petrii from hospital soil.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Bacterial filamentation as a mechanism for cell-to-cell spread within an animal host.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Natural History and Ecology of Interactions BetweenFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Pathogenicity and virulence ofVirulence · 2021Review
- Microbial warfare in the wild-the impact of protists on the evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2021Review
- Review
- Streamlined copper defenses make Bordetella pertussis reliant on custom-made operon.Communications biology · 2021Article
- The Ecology and Evolution of Amoeba-Bacterium Interactions.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Review
- Marine Bacteria Display Different Escape Mechanisms When Facing Their Protozoan Predators.Microorganisms · 2020Article
- A Mutation Upstream of themSystems · 2020Article
- Highlights of the 12th International Bordetella Symposium.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Article
- Cytotoxicity of the effector protein BteA was attenuated in Bordetella pertussis by insertion of an alanine residue.PLoS pathogens · 2020Article
- Aetiology of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex and Prevalence of its Pathogens in Europe.Journal of comparative pathology · 2020Review
- Genomic and ecological attributes of marine bacteriophages encoding bacterial virulence genes.BMC genomics · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that Bordetella species have a significant life stage outside of the mammalian respiratory tract that has yet to be defined. The Bordetella virulence gene (BvgAS) two-component system, a paradigm for a global virulence regulon, controls the expression of many "virulence factors" expressed in the Bvg positive (Bvg+) phase that are necessary for successful respiratory tract infection. A similarly large set of highly conserved genes are expressed under Bvg negative (Bvg-) phase growth conditions; however, these appear to be primarily expressed outside of the host and are thus hypothesized to be important in an undefined extrahost reservoir. Here, we show that Bvg- phase genes are involved in the ability of Bordetella bronchiseptica to grow and disseminate via the complex life cycle of the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Unlike bacteria that serve as an amoeba food source, B. bronchiseptica evades amoeba predation, survives within the amoeba for extended periods of time, incorporates itself into the amoeba sori, and disseminates along with the amoeba. Remarkably, B. bronchiseptica continues to be transferred with the amoeba for months, through multiple life cycles of amoebae grown on the lawns of other bacteria, thus demonstrating a stable relationship that allows B. bronchiseptica to expand and disperse geographically via the D. discoideum life cycle. Furthermore, B. bronchiseptica within the sori can efficiently infect mice, indicating that amoebae may represent an environmental vector within which pathogenic bordetellae expand and disseminate to encounter new mammalian hosts. These data identify amoebae as potential environmental reservoirs as well as amplifying and disseminating vectors for B. bronchiseptica and reveal an important role for the Bvg- phase in these interactions.
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Registered trials
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.