Triggering Bacterial Virulence

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Abstract
When pathogenic bacteria invade a host, virulence genes are induced that allow the bacteria to evade the host's defense mechanisms. Two reports in this week's issue [Pettersson et al . ( p.1231 ) and Zhang et al . ( p. 1234 )] show that cell-cell contact between bacteria and host is a key trigger in this induction, at least in a strain of Escherichia coli and in Yersinia . In their Perspective, Cotter and Miller draw parallels between these two systems and predict that cell-cell contact may be a general mechanism for virulence gene regulation.