Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, February 2006, p. 1087-1097, Vol. 80, No. 3
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.80.3.1087-1097.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Departments of Molecular Microbiology,1 Immunology and Pathology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 631102
Received 3 August 2005/ Accepted 2 November 2005
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
HPS is not characterized by significant cytopathology within the respiratory epithelium or endothelium (68). This pathology contrasts with other respiratory pathogens, such as influenza A virus, which primarily infect epithelial cells, resulting in high levels of cell death and tissue damage (26). In fact, hantavirus pathogenesis is best compared to viruses such as measles virus (32, 50) and Epstein-Barr virus (54) that interact initially but transiently with the respiratory epithelium in order to gain access to other tissues and cell types that are the major sites for viral replication. The initial interactions of hantaviruses within the respiratory tract are poorly understood; however, following inhalation the virus must traverse the respiratory tract to gain access to the pulmonary epithelium and endothelium where disease pathology is localized. Therefore, viral interactions with the respiratory epithelium may play an important role in hantavirus infection and disease.
There is a significant amount of evidence suggesting a role for the respiratory epithelium during hantavirus infection. First, transmission to humans usually occurs via inhalation of aerosolized rodent excreta; therefore, the initial tissues exposed to the virus would be the respiratory epithelium. Second, the ability of ANDV to spread person-to-person suggests alternate means of transmissionmost likely exposure to virus-containing aerosols or droplets and/or infected tissues or fluids. One documented ANDV outbreak in Argentina resulted in a cluster of cases, specifically, health care workers (36). Close contact with infected individuals, not exposure to infected rodents, was determined to be the primary risk factor in this cluster of HPS cases (36). Finally, viral pathogenesis and transmission studies in the primary ANDV rodent reservoir, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, demonstrated viral antigen in the lung epithelium and endothelium (35). Transmission between animals was primarily mediated by direct physical interaction between animals (biting, grooming, or exposure to respiratory secretions) and not by exposure to bedding from cages of infected animals (35).
Currently, the only model for HPS disease is infection of Syrian golden hamsters with South American hantaviruses, including ANDV and Maporal virus (18, 31). Intramuscular infection of hamsters results in a disease course similar to that in humans with symptoms beginning 8 to 10 days postinfection and mortality within 24 h after symptom onset (18). Mortality rates can reach 100%, and pathology is localized to the lungs, with the characteristics of HPS including interstitial pneumonia and pulmonary microvascular leakage (18, 31). Virus can be isolated from oropharyngeal throat swabs but is absent from the salivary glands (31), suggesting productive infection of the upper airways. Determining the role of the respiratory epithelium during hantavirus infection will provide insights into the early stages (prodrome) of hantavirus infection, dissemination to other tissues in the host, and virus transmission. However, animal studies using hantaviruses are complicated by the requirement for high-containment facilities (biosafety level 4), making it difficult to define key steps during in vivo virus replication.
The airway epithelium is a primary defense providing protection from inhaled pathogens, forming a particle-impermeable barrier as well as producing mucus and mucous proteins to trap and expel foreign materials (62). Well-differentiated, primary respiratory epithelial cell culture models have provided insights into the interactions of many respiratory viruses with the respiratory epithelium, including adenovirus (37, 51, 57, 66, 67), human coronavirus 229E (58), human parainfluenza virus (hPIV) (69), influenza (29), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (28, 70). In this study, we utilized primary hamster tracheal epithelial cells (TECs) to study the replication and tropism of ANDV within the respiratory epithelium.
|
|
|---|
Hamster and mouse TEC culture. Hamster TEC cultures were isolated and cultured as previously described (43). For goblet cell differentiation, human IL-13 was added to the basolateral medium at a concentration of 10 ng/ml when an air-liquid interface (ALI) was initiated (24) and removed at the time of infection. Mouse TECs from BALB/c (Charles River Laboratories), C57/B6, or ß3/ mice (17) were isolated and cultured similar to hamster TECs according to the methods described by You et al. (64). Transepithelial resistance (TER) was measured as described previously (43).
Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. At the indicated days postinfection, hamster TECs were processed for indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy as described previously (43). Nuclei were then stained with ToPro3 for 15 min at room temperature. Membranes were mounted with Molecular Probes Prolong antifade, and cells were visualized using a Zeiss 510 Meta LSM confocal microscope.
Three-dimensional analysis of confocal microscopy. Z-stacks acquired by indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy were analyzed using the Volocity 3D imaging software (Improvision, Lexington, MA) for three-dimensional visualization of confocal imaging.
Tracheal ring sections. Hamster tracheas were isolated as previously described (43), and each trachea was divided into 5 to 6 rings. Rings were washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), embedded in OCT tissue embedding medium (Sakura Finetek, Torrance, CA), and flash-frozen in a dry ice-ethanol bath. The embedded rings were sliced into 7-µm sections using a cryostat (Microm, Waldorf, Germany) and mounted on superfrost microscope slides (Fisher Scientific). OCT was removed with PBS washes, and tissue was fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 20 min at room temperature. Tissue sections were processed for immunofluorescence confocal microscopy as previously described (43).
ANDV infection. After 10 to 14 days at an ALI, hamster or mouse TECs were infected at the indicated multiplicity of infection (MOI) with ANDV strain 9717869 (courtesy of Stuart Nichol, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA). Mucus was removed by washing the apical chamber twice with warm TEC basic medium. Virus was diluted in TEC MM, and cells were infected via the apical chamber in a total volume of 50 µl for 2 h at 37°C. For infection from the basolateral membrane, virus inoculum was provided in a total volume of 150 µl in the basolateral chamber for 1 h at 37°C, during which the apical surface was left at an ALI. The inoculum was removed, and cells were washed twice with TEC MM, and 50 µl and 0.5 ml of TEC MM was placed in the apical and basolateral chambers, respectively. Apical and basolateral supernatants were collected for further analysis at the time postinfection indicated in the figures and stored at 70°C.
Vero (Vero E6; American Type Culture Collection) cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Atlanta Biologicals, Norcross, GA), 2 mM L-glutamine (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA), 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Virus was diluted in DMEM with 2% FBS for Vero infections, and cells were exposed to virus for 2 h at 37°C. The cells were washed extensively with PBS, and infected cell supernatants were collected at the indicated times postinfection.
Virus production was measured by either an immune plaque assay or quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for the ANDV virus small (S) RNA segment. All infections were performed using institution-approved biosafety level 3 containment procedures.
Immune plaque assay. Apical and basolateral supernatants were serially diluted in DMEM containing 2% FBS. Confluent monolayers of Vero E6 cells in 3.5-cm2 six-well dishes were infected with the serial dilutions for 1 h at 37°C, with occasional rocking. Inoculum was removed, and cells were overlaid with 1% agarose solution in DMEM containing 2% FBS and penicillin/streptomycin. Infections were incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 7 days, at which time cells were fixed with 1% formaldehyde solution in PBS. For immunostaining, cells were permeabilized in ice-cold methanol for 5 min and washed two to three times with PBS. Cells were incubated in mouse anti-SNV nucleocapsid antibody for 2 to 3 h at room temperature, with rocking. Cells were washed with PBS and incubated in secondary antibody goat anti-mouse HRP for 2 h at room temperature, with rocking. Cells were washed in PBS, and plaques were visualized by the addition of metal-enhanced diaminobenzidine substrate (Pierce, Rockford, IL).
Quantitative real-time RT-PCR of ANDV S segment. Viral RNA from harvested apical and basolateral supernatants was isolated using the QIAGEN (Valencia, CA) vRNA mini prep kit according to the manufacturer's protocol. S segment RNA copy numbers were determined using the ABI Taqman EZ RT-PCR kit according to the manufacturer's protocol (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). ANDV S segment (GenBank accession number AF291702)-specific primers and a FAM/TAMRA (FAM is 6-carboxyfluorescein; TAMRA is 6-carboxytetramethylrhodamine) probe were designed as follows: forward S segment RNA primer, 5'-GGAAAACATCACAGCACACGAA-3' (identical to antigenome nucleotides 66 to 87); reverse S segment RNA primer, 5'-CTGCCTTCTCGGCATCCTT-3' (complementary to antigenome nucleotides 118 to 136); and S segment FAM/TAMRA probe 5'-AACAGCTCGTGACTGCTCGGCAAAA-3' (identical to antigenome nucleotides 89 to 113). All were purchased from Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA. The RT-PCR conditions used were as follows on an ABI 7000 real-time PCR system (Applied Biosystems): (i) reverse transcription at 60°C for 30 min; (ii) denaturation for 2 min at 95°C, and (iii) 40 cycles of PCR amplification, with 30 s of denaturation (at 95°C) and 1 min of annealing and extension (60°C).
A standard curve for S RNA segment copies was generated by transcribing the PciI restriction enzyme-digested vector pGEM ANDV N with the Megascript SP6 kit (Ambion Inc., Austin, TX). The RNA was quantified by measuring the light absorbance at 260 nm. S RNA segment copies were determined compared to an S segment RNA standard curve and then expressed as S segment RNA copies/ml of viral supernatant.
Influenza A virus infection. Differentiated hamster TECs (10 days at ALI) were infected with recombinant influenza A virus A/Udorn/72 as previously described (43). Apical and basolateral media were removed at the indicated times postinfection (see Fig. 1E), and transepithelial resistance was measured (43). Infectious virus was quantified by determining the 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) (30).
![]() View larger version (28K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. ANDV replicates in primary hamster TECs without a loss of tight junction integrity. Primary hamster TECs were infected after 10 days at ALI with ANDV, and virus production in both the apical and basolateral supernatants was quantified by either an immune plaque assay (A) or quantitative RT-PCR of the ANDV S segment RNA (B). The horizontal solid and dashed lines indicate the limits of detection for the apical and basolateral samples, respectively. (C) Replication in Vero E6 cells was quantified by RT-PCR. The solid horizontal line indicates the limit of detection. (D) Tight junction integrity during ANDV infection of hamster TECs was monitored by measuring the TER. The dashed line indicates the minimum TER sufficient for tight junction formation and cell polarization. (E) Ten-day differentiated cultures of hamster TECs were infected with influenza A virus (A/Udorn/72) at an MOI of approximately 0.01. Virus production in the apical (squares) and basolateral (triangles) supernatants was monitored by TCID50 (left y axis). TER (right y axis) is shown for infected samples (circles). The dashed and solid lines indicate the limits of detection for the TCID50 and TER, respectively.
|
Mucin ELISA. At the indicated day postinfection, apical supernatants from mock- and ANDV-infected hamster TECs were lysed by the addition of 10% TX-100 to a final concentration of 1%. Samples were diluted 1:5 in ELISA coating buffer (0.1 M carbonate, 0.1 M bicarbonate, pH 9.5). Fifty microliters of sample was used for coating at 4°C overnight in a 96-well Nunc-Immuno ELISA plate (Nalge Nunc, Rochester, NY). Coating solution was removed, and wells were washed three to four times with PBS and blocked with 50 µl/well 1% bovine serum albumin in PBS with 0.2% Tween 20 (blocking buffer) for 1 h at room temperature. Blocking buffer was removed, and wells were incubated with 50 µl/well HRP-soybean agglutinin (24) for 1 h at room temperature. Wells were washed five times in PBS containing 0.2% Tween 20 and developed with 100 µl of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine plus ELISA substrate (DakoCytomation, Carpinteria, CA) for 15 min, with shaking at room temperature. The reaction was stopped with 100 µl of 2 M H2SO4, and absorbance at 450 nm was measured. The increase (n-fold) in hamster TEC supernatants was compared relative to Vero E6 supernatants and expressed as arbitrary units.
|
|
|---|
· cm2 (Fig. 1E). The data indicate that ANDV can productively infect hamster TECs, with no loss of monolayer integrity and virus secretion in both the apical and basolateral directions. After determining the kinetics of virus replication and polarity of virus secretion, we monitored viral antigen spread throughout the culture. The presence of ANDV nucleoprotein was determined by indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy of mock- or ANDV-infected hamster TECs at the indicated days postinfection (Fig. 2A to D). Viral antigen was expressed in a small percentage of the cells at 7 dpi, but the percentage of virus-infected cells increased with increasing days postinfection (Fig. 2A to D). Nuclei staining (Fig. 2E to H) showed similar cell numbers with no obvious nuclear fragmentation, blebbing, or chromatin condensation (Fig. 2E to H).
![]() View larger version (76K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. ANDV replication in hamster TECs results in efficient virus spread. Mock- or ANDV-infected hamster TECs were costained for the virus nucleocapsid protein (A to D) and nuclei (E to H) at various days postinfection and analyzed by indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. Images were acquired with a 63x objective, and the bar represents 25 µm.
|
![]() View larger version (74K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. ANDV infects the nonciliated secretory cell population. ANDV-infected hamster TECs at 7 and 13 dpi were analyzed by indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy by costaining for viral antigen (green) (A to E) and cell type-specific markers (red): Clara cells were stained for CCSP (F and G), ciliated cells were identified by ß-tubulin IV staining (H and I), and goblet cells were identified by MUC5AC expression (J). Merged images are shown in K to O. Images were acquired with a 63x objective, and the bar represents 25 µm.
|
![]() View larger version (30K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. ANDV infection of hamster TECs results in viral antigen localized to the apical and basolateral regions of the cell. Three-dimensional imaging analysis was performed on Z-stacks acquired by indirect immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. Hamster TECs were costained for the Clara cell marker, CCSP (red), viral antigen (green), and nuclei (blue). Images were then rotated with respect to the x axis in the y direction. Representative images for rotations of 45° (A) and +90° (B) are shown. The asterisks identify corresponding cells in both panels, while white arrows identify basolaterally localized viral antigen. (C) ANDV-infected hamster TECs immunostained for ß-tubulin IV (red), ANDV antigen (green), and nuclei (blue). Image shown at a rotation of 45° with respect to the x axis along the y axis.
|
![]() View larger version (35K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. ANDV infection of hamster TECs does not alter secretory cell function. Secretory cell function during ANDV infection of hamster TECs was monitored by quantifying secretion of CCSP by Western blot analysis (A) and mucus secretion by a mucin ELISA (B).
|
· cm2 throughout the infection (Fig. 6B), confirming that there were no breaches in monolayer integrity that might allow virus to diffuse into the apical chamber before initiation of the infection. These results indicate that ANDV is capable of infecting the hamster TECs via the apical or basolateral surfaces.
![]() View larger version (21K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 6. Hamster TECs are susceptible to ANDV infection via the basolateral membrane. (A) Hamster TECs were infected basolaterally with ANDV, and virus release into the apical and basolateral supernatants was monitored by quantitative RT-PCR of the virus S segment. The horizontal solid and dashed lines indicate the limits of detection for the apical and basolateral samples, respectively. (B) Tight junction integrity during infection was monitored by measuring the TER. The dashed line indicates the minimum TER sufficient for tight junction formation.
|
![]() View larger version (94K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 7. ß3 integrin is expressed on the nonciliated secretory cell population. Differentiated hamster TECs and hamster tracheal tissue were costained by indirect immunofluorescence for ß3 integrin (red) (A to C) and cellular markers (green): ciliated cell marker ß-tubulin IV (D and F) and secretory cell marker MUC5AC (E). Nuclei of the hamster tracheal epithelium are shown in blue (C, F, and I). Merged images are shown in G to I. Images were acquired with a 63x objective, and the bar represents 25 µm.
|
![]() View larger version (16K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 8. Mouse TECs are susceptible to ANDV, and ß3 integrin is not required for tracheal cell tight junction formation. (A) Mouse TECs were infected apically with ANDV, and virus produced in the apical and basolateral supernatants was measured by quantitative RT-PCR of the virus S RNA segment. Viral nucleocapsid secretion into the apical supernatant was analyzed by Western blotting and shown in the inset of panel A. The horizontal solid and dashed lines indicate the limit of detection for the apical and basolateral samples, respectively. (B) Tight junction integrity during infection was monitored by measuring TER. The dashed line indicates the minimum TER sufficient for tight junction formation and cell polarization. (C) The requirement for ß3 integrin in airway epithelial cell tight junction formation was analyzed by monitoring TER in 14-day TEC cultures derived from BALB/c, C57BL/6, or ß3 integrin knockout mice.
|
|
|
|---|
Primary hamster TEC cultures were previously shown to produce a well-differentiated heterogeneous cell population representative of the airway epithelium (43) and therefore provided us with an excellent model to study hantavirus interactions with the respiratory epithelium. ANDV was capable of replicating in the hamster TECs, releasing virus into both the apical and basolateral supernatants. Infection resulted in no obvious cell damage, and basolaterally secreted virus was not due to a breakdown in tight junction integrity as TER remained high throughout infection. This was in contrast to influenza A virus infection, which was shown to cause virus particle release exclusively into the apical medium, with a concomitant loss of TER and significant cytopathic effect. Infection of primary, differentiated airway epithelial cells often results in a polarized secretion of the virus; examples include basolateral secretion of adenovirus (57) and apical secretion for RSV (70), hPIV-3 (69), and influenza A virus (Fig. 1). These results suggest that the hantaviruses, specifically ANDV, are released from airway epithelial cells in a bidirectional but not an equivalent manner. Bidirectional virus secretion from polarized cell lines has been demonstrated in Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV)-infected polarized Caco-2 cells, Punto Toro virus-infected polarized Vero cells, and Black Creek Canal virus-infected polarized Vero cells (14, 38). RVFV infection resulted in nearly equivalent amounts of infectious virus particles in both apical and basolateral supernatants, Punto Toro virus yielded higher titers in basolateral supernatants, and Black Creek Canal infection yielded higher titers in apical supernatants. Clearly, this indicates that different bunyaviruses utilize bidirectional secretion to different extents, emphasizing the need to perform these kinds of experiments in relevant cell culture systems.
Our data demonstrate that the respiratory epithelium can serve as a site of hantavirus entry and replication following inhalation. Furthermore, the direct infection of the respiratory epithelium followed by bidirectional virus secretion allows the virus to have direct access to the respiratory endothelium and thus to disseminate and initiate the pathological changes leading to HPS disease. Intramuscular infection in the hamster model of infection or transmission between rodents by biting or scratching results in high levels of virus replication within the lung (5, 6, 16, 18, 31). Infection of hamster TECs via the basolateral membrane, which simulates these routes of infection, also resulted in high levels of virus replication, suggesting that the virus can enter as well as exit via infection of the respiratory epithelium.
Many respiratory viruses infect a specific cell type within the airway epithelium. The paramyxoviruses, RSV (70) and human hPIV-3 (69), target the ciliated cell population; adenovirus infects basal cells (57, 70), while influenza A virus is capable of infecting both ciliated and nonciliated cell populations depending on the virus strain (29). In this study we found that ANDV infection was localized to the nonciliated cell population, specifically colocalizing to Clara and goblet cell populations. Cell tropism was not altered by virus infection via the basolateral membrane (data not shown). Cell type-specific infection by certain viruses can be limited by the expression of the viral receptor. This has specifically been shown for hPIV-3 (69), measles (50, 52), adenovirus (57), and influenza A virus (29). ß3 Integrin has been shown to serve as a receptor for pathogenic hantaviruses, including Hantaan virus and SNV (11, 13). Previous studies suggest that ß3 integrin expression can be found on both airway and lung epithelial cells (21, 22, 37, 48). We found that ß3 integrin was expressed in the hamster TEC cultures and was most likely present in both the Clara and goblet cell populations; however, we only colocalized ß3 expression to MUC5AC-positive cells due to antibody limitations. A similar expression pattern for ß3 integrin was found in the hamster trachea. Interestingly, localization of ß3 integrin was primarily on the apical membrane. We cannot rule out the possibility that low levels of ß3 integrin are expressed on the basolateral membrane; however, it is also possible that hantaviruses utilize an alternative receptor that is expressed on the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells.
Infection of laboratory rodents closely mimics infection of the reservoir rodent host, with the murine host having little to no pathology within the lung (1, 9, 63). Replication of ANDV in mouse TECs showed significantly less viral RNA secretion, 102-fold to 103-fold less, than replication in the hamster TECs and undetectable levels of basolateral viral RNA secretion, suggesting a lack of bidirectional secretion in these cells. Current data suggest that murine ß3 integrin is not capable of mediating hantavirus entry (39). However, there are several studies that indicate that laboratory mice are capable of supporting hantavirus replication in multiple organs including the lung (25, 61, 63), and intraperitoneal infection of mice with Hantaan virus results in mortality (61, 63). Our data, along with that of others, suggest that hantaviruses can replicate in the mouse; therefore, it is likely that virus receptors other than ß3 integrin exist.
Previous data suggests that virus-mediated disregulation of ß3 integrin in endothelial cells may contribute to the pathogenesis seen in HPS (12, 39). ß3 integrin-deficient mice suffer from bleeding disorders (17) and pneumonia (60). By utilizing ß3 integrin-deficient mice, we were able to address the role of this molecule in airway epithelial tight junction integrity. TER of both wild-type and ß3-deficient mouse TECs showed that the expression of ß3 integrin was not required for tight junction integrity of the airway epithelium. These results, together with our data on ANDV infection of hamster TECs, suggest that ß3 integrin plays a much greater role in integrity of the endothelium than the respiratory epithelium.
Many viral infections of the respiratory tract can result in altered secretory cell function, i.e., mucus hypersecretion or goblet cell hyperplasia (28, 55, 56, 59, 65); however, whether these changes result from direct or indirect effects of virus infection remains to be determined. By monitoring secretion of both the CCSP protein and mucins, we determined that hantavirus infection does not alter the steady-state levels of either protein. These data suggest that the secretory cell population is the primary cell type targeted by ANDV in the hamster TEC system, with virus replication not obviously affecting the basic secretory functions of these cell types.
The hamster TECs are a polarized cell culture resulting in cells with distinct apical and basolateral membranes that differ in molecular makeup and function. Many viruses preferentially enter polarized cells via either the apical (influenza, RSV, and hPIV3) or basolateral (vesicular stomatitis virus and adenovirus) membrane. Previous data suggest that for the North American hantavirus, Black Creek canal, entry into polarized Vero cells could only be mediated at the apical membrane (38). Bidirectional infection may be an aspect unique to ANDV or the cell type infected as these results differ from those seen in the Black Creek Canal studies. However, infection of Caco-2 cells with RVFV could be mediated from both the apical and basolateral membranes (14). The finding that ANDV has the capability to utilize both membrane surfaces of polarized airway epithelial cells leads to many hypotheses on the role of this tissue during ANDV pathogenesis. Infection of the airway epithelium can promote person-to-person transmission with the release of apical virus and also provide the basolaterally released virus easy access to the endothelium, thereby leading to viremia. Infection at both membranes can also provide information on viral entry and receptor usage. Interestingly, infection of primary airway cells with measles virus is mediated preferentially at basolateral membranes, while infection of polarized Vero cells can only occur at the apical plasma membrane (3, 50). This suggests that the bidirectional infection of ANDV in the hamster TEC model may be due to the cell type system used and further supports the use of the primary respiratory cell models as a relevant comparison to infection in vivo.
This work was supported by the Washington University Lucille P. Markey Pathway in Human Pathobiology predoctoral fellowship (R.K.R.) and Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Services grant R21 AI53381 (A.P.).
|
|
|---|
vß3 integrin conformers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:1163-1168.
vß3 in pig, dog and cattle. Histol. Histopathol. 16:1037-1046.[Medline]
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»