Denise M. Monack

TL;DR: The ability of Y. pseudotuberculosis to promote apoptosis of macrophages in cell culture suggests that this process is important for the establishment of infection in the host and for evasion of the host immune response.

TL;DR: This Review discusses the recent identification of previously unknown pattern recognition receptors and how they complement the repertoire of established receptors.

TL;DR: It is shown that wild-type Francisella, which reach the cytosol, but not Francisella mutants that remain localized to the vacuole, induced a host defense response in macrophages, which is dependent on caspase-1 and the death-fold containing adaptor protein ASC, demonstrating a key role in innate defense against infection by this pathogen.

TL;DR: Host-adapted strains of Salmonella are capable of establishing a persistent infection in their host often in the absence of clinical disease and interferon-γ, which may affect the level of macrophage activation, plays an essential role in the control of the persistent S. typhimurium infection in mice.

TL;DR: A class of Francisella virulence genes that are essential for growth and survival in vivo but do not play a role in intracellular replication within macrophages are discovered, indicating that the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms used by other uncharacterized genes identified in the screen will increase the understanding of the ways in which bacterial pathogens subvert the immune system.