Interaction between host cell mitochondria and Coxiella burnetii.

In order to successfully establish a replicative niche, intracellular bacterial pathogens must influence eukaryotic cell biology. Vesicle and protein traffic, transcription and translation, metabolism and innate immune signaling are all important elements of the host-pathogen interaction that can be manipulated by intracellular bacterial pathogens. The causative agent of Q fever, Coxiella burnetii, is a mammalian adapted pathogen that replicates in a lysosome-derived pathogen-modified vacuole.