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Stress response in pathogenic bacteria

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Abstract

Bacterial pathogens survive under two entirely different conditions, namely, their natural environment and in their hosts. Response of these pathogens to stresses encountered during transition from the natural environment to human hosts has been described. The virulence determinants of pathogenic bacteria are under the control of transcriptional activators which respond to fluctuations in growth temperature, osmolarity, metal ion concentration and oxygen tension of the environment. The regulation of stress induced genes may occur at the level of transcription or translation or by post-translational modifications. Under certain stress conditions local changes in the superhelicity of DNA induce or repress genes. In addition to their role in survival of bacteria under stressful situations, the stress induced proteins are also implicated in the manifestation of pathogenicity of bacterial pathogensin vivo.

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  1. Biophysics Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S C Mullick Road, Jadavpur, 700 032, Calcutta, India

    Rukhsana Chowdhury, Gautam K. Sahu & Jyotirmoy Das

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  1. Rukhsana Chowdhury
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  2. Gautam K. Sahu
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  3. Jyotirmoy Das
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Correspondence to Jyotirmoy Das.

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Chowdhury, R., Sahu, G.K. & Das, J. Stress response in pathogenic bacteria. J Biosci 21, 149–160 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02703105

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