PUBLICATION

A zebrafish model of Mycobacterium kansasii infection reveals large extracellular cord formation

Authors
Johansen, M.D., Kremer, L.
ID
ZDB-PUB-200422-147
Date
2020
Source
The Journal of infectious diseases   222(6): 1046-1050 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
Mycobacterium kansasii, cords, granuloma, infection, macrophage, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions/immunology
  • Larva
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/immunology
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/microbiology*
  • Mycobacterium kansasii/physiology*
  • Phagocytes/immunology
  • Phagocytes/metabolism
  • Phagocytes/microbiology
  • Phagocytosis/immunology
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
32301995 Full text @ J. Infect. Dis.
Abstract
Mycobacterium kansasii is a slow-growing non-tuberculous mycobacteria responsible for co-infections particularly in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. To date, our knowledge of M. kansasii infection has been hampered due to the lack of an effective animal model to study pathogenesis. Here, we show the zebrafish embryo is permissive to M. kansasii infection, causing a chronic infection and forming granulomas. Upon macrophage depletion, we identified M. kansasii forms extracellular cords, resulting in acute infection and rapid larval death. These findings highlight the feasibility of zebrafish to study M. kansasii pathogenesis, and for the first time identify extracellular cords in this species.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping