TY - JOUR
T1 - Galleria mellonella as a model host to study infection by the Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain
AU - Aperis, George
AU - Burgwyn Fuchs, Beth
AU - Anderson, Christine A.
AU - Warner, John E.
AU - Calderwood, Stephen B.
AU - Mylonakis, Eleftherios
N1 - Funding Information:
We appreciate the support of the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense/Emerging Infectious Diseases Research; grant number AI057159. We thank Drs. Andrew B. Onderdonk and Gerald A. Beltz for providing the F. tularensis LVS, advice and critical review of the manuscript. We also acknowledge support provided by a K08 award AI63084 from NIH and a New Scholar Award in Global Infectious Diseases of the Ellison Medical Foundation to E.M.
PY - 2007/5
Y1 - 2007/5
N2 - We used the killing of Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae; the greater wax moth) caterpillar by the live vaccine strain (LVS) of Francisella tularensis to develop an invertebrate host system that can be used to study F. tularensis infection and the in vivo effects of antibacterial compounds on F. tularensis LVS. After injection into the insect hemocoel, F. tularensis LVS, killed caterpillars despite the association of LVS with hemocytes. The rate of killing depended on the number of bacteria injected. Antibiotic therapy with ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin or streptomycin administered before or after inoculation prolonged survival and decreased the tissue burden of F. tularensis in the hemocoel. Delayed drug treatment reduced the efficacy of antibacterials and especially streptomycin. The G. mellonella-F. tularensis LVS system may facilitate the in vivo study of F. tularensis, efficacy with antibacterial agents.
AB - We used the killing of Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae; the greater wax moth) caterpillar by the live vaccine strain (LVS) of Francisella tularensis to develop an invertebrate host system that can be used to study F. tularensis infection and the in vivo effects of antibacterial compounds on F. tularensis LVS. After injection into the insect hemocoel, F. tularensis LVS, killed caterpillars despite the association of LVS with hemocytes. The rate of killing depended on the number of bacteria injected. Antibiotic therapy with ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin or streptomycin administered before or after inoculation prolonged survival and decreased the tissue burden of F. tularensis in the hemocoel. Delayed drug treatment reduced the efficacy of antibacterials and especially streptomycin. The G. mellonella-F. tularensis LVS system may facilitate the in vivo study of F. tularensis, efficacy with antibacterial agents.
KW - Francisella tularensis
KW - Galleria mellonella
KW - Phagocytosis
KW - Tularemia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247547098&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34247547098&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.micinf.2007.02.016
DO - 10.1016/j.micinf.2007.02.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 17400503
AN - SCOPUS:34247547098
SN - 1286-4579
VL - 9
SP - 729
EP - 734
JO - Microbes and Infection
JF - Microbes and Infection
IS - 6
ER -