What makes pathogens pathogenic

doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-6-225

Genome Biology

Volume 9
Issue 6

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What makes pathogens pathogenic

Garth D Ehrlich¹^,2 , N Luisa Hiller¹ and Fen Ze Hu¹^,2

¹Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny General Hospital/Allegheny Singer Research Institute, 320 E. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA

²Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Allegheny Campus, 320 E. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA

author email corresponding author email

Genome Biology 2008, 9:225doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-6-225


Published:	24 June 2008

Subject areas: Ecology, Evolution, Medicine, Microbiology and parasitology, Physiology

Abstract

Metazoans contain multiple complex microbial ecosystems in which the balance between host and microbe can be tipped from commensalism to pathogenicity. This transition is likely to depend both on the prevailing environmental conditions and on specific gene-gene interactions placed within the context of the entire ecosystem.