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Special Focus Issue: On the road to systems biology of host-pathogen interactions - Review

Host–microbe interaction systems biology: lifecycle transcriptomics and comparative genomics

    Daniel E Sturdevant

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Kimmo Virtaneva

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Craig Martens

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Daniel Bozinov

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Olajumoke Ogundare

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Nina Castro

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Kishore Kanakabandi

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Paul A Beare

    Coxiella Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Anders Omsland

    Coxiella Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    John H Carlson

    Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Adam D Kennedy

    Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Robert A Heinzen

    Coxiella Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    Jean Celli

    Tularemia Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    ,
    David E Greenberg

    Immunopathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, 33 North Dr., Room 2W10A.3, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

    ,
    Frank R DeLeo

    Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    &
    Stephen F Porcella

    † Author for correspondence

    Genomics Unit, Research Technologies Section, Research Technologies Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH, 904 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.

    Published Online:https://doi.org/10.2217/fmb.09.125

    The use of microarray and comparative genomic technologies for the analysis of host–pathogen interactions has led to a greater understanding of the biological systems involved in infectious disease processes. Transcriptome analysis of intracellular pathogens at single or multiple time points during infection offers insight into the pathogen intracellular lifecycle. Host–pathogen transcriptome analysis in vivo, over time, enables characterization of both the pathogen and the host during the dynamic, multicellular host response. Comparative genomics using hybridization microarray-based comparative whole-genome resequencing or de novo whole-genome sequencing can identify the genetic factors responsible for pathogen evolutionary divergence, emergence, reemergence or the genetic basis for different pathogenic phenotypes. Together, microarray and comparative genomic technologies will continue to advance our understanding of pathogen evolution and assist in combating human infectious disease.

    Papers of special note have been highlighted as: ▪ of interest ▪▪ of considerable interest

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