Fit for consumption: zebrafish as a model for tuberculosis

• Published in: Disease models & mechanisms Vol. 7; no. 7; pp. 777 - 784
• Main Authors: Cronan, Mark R, Tobin, David M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Company of Biologists Ltd 01.07.2014; The Company of Biologists Limited; The Company of Biologists
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Disease models; Disease Models, Animal; Drug resistance; Genes; Genetics; Granulomas; Humans; Immune system; Immunity, Innate; Infections; Mortality; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium marinum - physiology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - physiology; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Pathology; Review; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - immunology; Tuberculosis - microbiology; Tuberculosis - pathology; Vaccines; Zebrafish; Zebrafish - genetics; Zebrafish - microbiology; Mycobacterium; Genetics; Zebrafish; Tuberculosis; Disease models; Pathogenesis
• ISSN: 1754-8403; 1754-8411
• DOI: 10.1242/dmm.016089

Despite efforts to generate new vaccines and antibiotics for tuberculosis, the disease remains a public health problem worldwide. The zebrafish Danio rerio has emerged as a useful model to investigate mycobacterial pathogenesis and treatment. Infection of zebrafish with Mycobacterium marinum, the closest relative of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, recapitulates many aspects of human tuberculosis. The zebrafish model affords optical transparency, abundant genetic tools and in vivo imaging of the progression of infection. Here, we review how the zebrafish-M. marinum system has been deployed to make novel observations about the role of innate immunity, the tuberculous granuloma, and crucial host and bacterial genes. Finally, we assess how these findings relate to human disease and provide a framework for novel strategies to treat tuberculosis.