from Michael Marceau and Michel Simonet writing in Yersinia: Systems Biology and Control:
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is a septicemic pathogen for rodents and many other animals. However, in certain immunosuppressive conditions, it may also invade the human bloodstream and little is known about the physiological events that take place once the microorganism has entered this compartment. DNA arrays are powerful tools for comparing wide and complex RNA population samples and, therefore, are appropriate to gain insight into the metabolic pathways and virulence factors expressed by the bacterium in this situation. Using such a technology, we compared the overall gene transcription patterns (the transcriptome) of Y. pseudotuberculosis cultured in either human plasma or Luria-Bertani medium. In this chapter, we will try to decipher, and sometimes speculate a little bit, on the physiological events behind the most salient transcriptional regulatory events detected in our experiments, with the intention of making the story as less descriptive as possible. Discordances between our data and those obtained in identical conditions with Y. pestis will be discussed when necessary.
Further reading: Yersinia: Systems Biology and Control