From Harvard: Feast or Famine: The Host-Pathogen Battle Over Amino Acids

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23521858

Cell Microbiol. 2013 Mar 22. doi: 10.1111/cmi.12140. [Epub ahead of print]

Feast or Famine: The Host-Pathogen Battle Over Amino Acids.

Zhang YJ, Rubin EJ.

Source

Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, US.

Abstract

Intracellular bacterial pathogens often rely on their hosts for essential nutrients. Host cells, in turn, attempt to limit nutrient availability, usingstarvation as a mechanism of innate immunity. Here we discuss both host mechanisms of amino acid starvation and the diverse adaptations of pathogens to their nutrient-deprived environments. These processes provide both key insights into immune subversion and new targets for drug development.