Manipulating the host to study bacterial virulence

The ability to manipulate animal hosts as well as bacterial pathogens greatly expands the utility of in vivo models of infection. For example, the construction of mice that harbor human tissues or express specific transgenes can provide ligand-receptor interactions that are essential for pathogenesis. Interactions between virulence factors and specific host defenses can sometimes be resolved by challenging selectively immunodeficient mice with bacteria containing virulence gene mutations. Transgenic animals expressing inducible reporters can be used to conveniently identify cells in which specific response pathways have been activated during infection. These and other approaches promise to improve the quality of information obtainable from in vivo assessments of pathogenesis.