In vivo studies on Citrobacter rodentium and host cell death pathways

Citrobacter rodentium is a mouse-specific extracellular enteropathogen, commonly used as a small animal model for studying human enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infections. Both pathogens share a core set of virulence factors, including a type III secretion system, which enables translocation of effector proteins into infected cells to subvert host antimicrobial responses. Notably, these bacterial effectors have been reported to specifically target components of the apoptotic, necroptotic and pyroptotic signaling cascades in vivo, resulting in compromised immune cell recruitment and impaired mucosal homeostasis. Identifying the contributions of each cell death modality to bacterial control in a physiological model represents a crucial step in furthering our understanding of host-pathogen evolution and may provide insight into the host evasion strategies utilised by other enteric pathogens.