期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1991
卷号：88
期号：3
页码：737-740
DOI：10.1073/pnas.88.3.737
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The persistence of numerous pathogenic bacteria important in disease states, such as tuberculosis, in humans and domestic animals has been ascribed to an inhibition of fusion between the phagosomal vesicles containing the bacteria and lysosomes in the host cells [Elsbach, P. & Weiss, J. (1988) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 974, 29-52; Thoen, C. O. (1988) J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 193, 1045-1048]. In tuberculosis this effect has been indirectly attributed to the production of cord factor (alpha,alpha-trehalose 6,6'-dimycolate). We show here that cord factor is extraordinarily effective at inhibiting Ca2(+)-induced fusion between phospholipid vesicles and suggest a mechanism by which cord factor confers this effect. These findings are likely to be important in our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of many diseases of bacterial etiology.
