ReviewWhat 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
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Genome Biology 2008,
9:225doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-6-225
Subject areas: Ecology, Evolution, Medicine, Microbiology and parasitology, Physiology
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.
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