Teleost contributions to the understanding of mycobacterial diseases

Abstract

Few pathogens have shaped human medicine as the mycobacteria. From understanding biological phenomena driving disease spread, to mechanisms of hostpathogen interactions and antibiotic resistance, the Mycobacterium genus continues to challenge and offer insights into the basis of health and disease. Teleost fish models of mycobacterial infections have progressed significantly over the past three decades, now supplying a range of unique tools and new opportunities to define the strategies employed by these Gram-positive bacteria to overcome host defenses, as well as those host antimicrobial pathways that can be used to limit its growth and spread. Herein, we take a comparative perspective and provide an update on the contributions of teleost models to our understanding of mycobacterial diseases.

Zebrafish as an alternative animal model in human and animal vaccination research

“…Moreover, teleost models offer an expanding platform for the understanding of mycobacterial infections and those mechanisms that offer the greatest potential to enhance host protection [37]. The models make it possible to screen the host and bacterial factors that modify the disease and facilitate the search for new therapeutic agents.…”

Integrating fish models in tuberculosis vaccine development

“…The early events of the host-pathogen interaction, including bacterial recognition and phagocytosis by macrophages, bacterial evasion of phagolysosomal killing and granuloma formation are shared between Mtb and M. marinum (reviewed, for example, in Hodgkinson et al, 2019 ; Myllymäki et al, 2016 ), and have been extensively studied in zebrafish embryos. The adaptive immune response, however, is less explored in zebrafish.…”