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Infection and Immunity, March 2005, p. 1350-1356, Vol. 73, No. 3
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.73.3.1350-1356.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
CD4+ T Cells and Toll-Like Receptors Recognize Salmonella Antigens Expressed in Bacterial Surface Organelles
Molly A. Bergman,1,
Lisa A. Cummings,2
Sara L. Rassoulian Barrett,2
Kelly D. Smith,3,4
J. Cano Lara,1
Alan Aderem,4 and
Brad T. Cookson1,2*
Departments of Microbiology,1
Laboratory Medicine,2
Pathology, University of Washington,3
Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, Washington4
Received 22 July 2004/
Returned for modification 12 September 2004/
Accepted 10 November 2004

ABSTRACT
A better understanding of immunity to infection is revealed
from the characteristics of microbial ligands recognized by
host immune responses. Murine infection with the intracellular
bacterium
Salmonella generates CD4
+ T cells that specifically
recognize
Salmonella proteins expressed in bacterial surface
organelles such as flagella and membrane vesicles. These natural
Salmonella antigens are also ligands for Toll-like receptors
(TLRs) or avidly associated with TLR ligands such as lipopolysaccharide
(LPS). PhoP/PhoQ, a regulon controlling
Salmonella virulence
and remodeling of LPS to resist innate immunity, coordinately
represses production of surface-exposed antigens recognized
by CD4
+ T cells and TLRs. These data suggest that genetically
coordinated surface modifications may provide a growth advantage
for
Salmonella in host tissues by limiting both innate and adaptive
immune recognition.

INTRODUCTION
A successful defense against pathogenic microorganisms requires
appropriate coordination between innate and adaptive immune
responses. Initial recognition of microbes by dendritic cells,
neutrophils, and macrophages via Toll-like receptors (TLRs)
leads to recruitment and activation of B and T lymphocytes,
resulting in sterilization of infected tissue and long-lasting
immunological memory (
50). TLRs are stimulated by conserved
microbial components (
35), while B- and T-cell receptors identify
pathogen-specific molecules. Although distinct in temporal and
functional aspects of host immunity, the connections between
innate and adaptive immune responses are emerging, as recent
work has identified signal transduction pathways required for
both immune systems (
64).
Murine infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium causes a systemic typhoid-like disease in which bacteria replicate in the intracellular vacuoles of professional phagocytes (36, 47). Salmonellae express classical inflammatory molecules like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoproteins in their outer membranes but resist innate immune recognition by modifying the bacterial envelope through processes controlled by the PhoP/PhoQ regulatory system (18). PhoP/PhoQ is required for Salmonella virulence in infected hosts: PhoP bacteria fail to cause disease in susceptible hosts but instead induce protective immunity (19, 21, 30, 51, 69). CD4+ T-cell responses are an essential component of immunity to salmonellae (48), and the major subunit protein of bacterial flagella, FliC, is an important antigen recognized by CD4+ T cells from both Salmonella-infected mice and humans (15, 49, 68). The innate immune response also recognizes FliC via TLR5 (29, 65).
We demonstrate that bacterial surface organelles (flagella and membrane vesicles [MVs]) stimulate TLRs and also contain the natural antigens recognized by murine CD4+ T cells responding to Salmonella infection. Thus, the host innate and adaptive immune responses preferentially target surface-exposed microbial ligands for recognition. Correspondingly, the PhoP/PhoQ virulence regulon both controls bacterial resistance to innate immunity and represses production of antigens recognized by T cells. This suggests that coordinate regulation of antigen expression and bacterial membrane modifications may contribute to Salmonella virulence and supports the notion that microbial pathogenic strategies have coevolved with the host immune system.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Bacterial strains and antigen preparation.
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium strain SL3261 (SL1344
aroA) (
31) was used for oral immunization of mice. Antigens
were prepared from
S. enterica serovar Typhimurium strains ST14028
(American Type Culture Collection [ATCC]), ST14028
pho-
24 (PhoP
c),
ST14028
phoP102::Tn
10dCam (PhoP
) (
42,
51,
52), ST14028
phoP*
phoQ::Tn
10 (PhoP*) (
14), ST14028
fliCi::Tn
10 (BC118),
and ST14028
fliC
fljB (BC698). Strains were constructed by generalized
transduction via P22 phage (
15). Heat-killed salmonellae were
prepared from bacteria grown to stationary phase in Luria broth
or tryptic soy broth (BD Diagnostic Systems, Sparks, Md.) and
incubated at 65°C for 1 h. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (PAGE)-fractionated
Salmonella was prepared
from ST14028 bacteria separated by SDS-16.5% PAGE (
62) as previously
described (
15). Briefly, protein was eluted from gel sections,
polyacrylamide was removed by filtration (Spin-X; Corning Inc.,
Corning, N.Y.), and SDS-PAGE buffer was replaced with phosphate-buffered
saline by diafiltration through Microcon filtration units with
a molecular weight cutoff of 10,000 (Millipore, Bedford, Mass.).
Proteinase K-treated salmonellae were obtained by treating whole
bacteria with 0.1 mg of proteinase K (Boehringer Mannheim Corp.,
Indianapolis, Ind.) per ml at 37C° for 24 h, followed by
enzyme inactivation at 65°C for 15 min; addition of 0.2%
SDS during proteinase K treatment solubilized bacterial membranes,
allowing complete proteolysis. To purify FliC and FljB, flagella
from logarithmic-phase bacteria expressing only FljB or FliC
(
15) were sheared off by blending (
67) (Waring, East Windsor,
N.J.), depolymerized at 60°C for 20 min, and passed through
a Centricon filtration unit with a molecular weight cutoff of
100,000 (Millipore) to remove contaminating LPS.
Mice and immunizations.
Six- to 8-week-old female mice (C57BL/6 and C3H/HeJ; Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine) were used for immunization and as a source of splenocyte antigen-presenting cells (APC). Mice were immunized by oral gavage with 109 viable SL3261 bacteria (feeding needle no. 7920; Popper & Sons, Inc., New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Studies were performed in accordance with the institutional guidelines for animal use and care.
Generation of Salmonella-specific T cells.
T cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with L-glutamine, 50 µM ß2-mercaptoethanol, and 10% fetal calf serum with penicillin, streptomycin, and gentamicin. Salmonella-immune T-cell lines were generated by stimulation of CD4+ T cells recovered from mice 90 days after immunization (SL3261) with Salmonella antigen (derived from SL1344 or ATCC 14028) presented by naive splenocyte APC as previously described (15). Alternatively, splenocytes harvested from mice infected with virulent salmonellae (containing 0.6 to 4 intracellular bacteria per splenocyte) were used directly ex vivo as APC to stimulate immune T cells. No Salmonella-specific T cells were recovered from naive mice (data not shown). Antigen-specific T-cell clones were isolated by limiting dilution, were confirmed to be CD4+ by flow-cytometric analysis, and were protein antigen specific. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restriction to either Ak or Ek molecules in C3H/HeJ mice was determined by (i) proliferative responses to antigen and Ak-expressing splenocyte APC from B10.4R mice (Jackson Laboratory) or (ii) inhibition of proliferative responses to antigen and APC in the presence of blocking anti-Ek antibody (clone 14-4-4S; BD Biosciences Pharmingen, San Diego, Calif.) (data not shown).
MVs and size exclusion chromatography.
ST14028 bacteria were grown in tryptic soy broth to logarithmic phase, and organisms were removed from the culture by centrifugation. Culture supernatant was filtered through 0.22-µm-pore-size filter units (Corning, Inc.) and further concentrated by diafiltration through CentriconPlus filtration units with a molecular weight cutoff of 100,000 (Millipore), yielding MV preparations. Size exclusion chromatography of MVs was performed with Sephacryl S-500 resin (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, N.J.).
Proliferation assays.
T-cell proliferation in response to APC plus antigen was assayed as previously described (15). Briefly, 104 T cells and 105 irradiated splenocytes plus antigen were combined in triplicate, [3H]TdR was added after 48 h, DNA was harvested after 16 h, and incorporated 3H was measured by liquid scintillation spectrophotometry.
Immunoblotting.
Salmonella antigen preparations were separated by SDS-10% PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, and probed with polyclonal sera specific to SecA, OmpA (kind gifts from Tina Guina, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington), LPS (BD Diagnostic Systems), or FliC (Denka Seiken, Tokyo, Japan), followed by goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, Calif.). Reactive horseradish peroxidase was detected by enhanced chemiluminescence (Amersham Biosciences).
Electron microscopy.
MVs were negatively stained with 1% phosphotungstic acid (pH 7.0) and applied directly to 0.5% Formvar-coated 300-mesh copper grids. Samples were observed with a JEM-1200EXII transmission electron microscope (JEOL). Micrographs were taken at an accelerating voltage of 80 kV.
TLR2- and TLR5-dependent NF-
B activation.
CHO K1 cells (ATCC catalog no. CRL-9618) were grown in Ham's F-12 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, L-glutamine, penicillin, and streptomycin. CHO K1 cells were transfected by electroporation with 8 µg of either murine TLR2 or TLR5 cloned into the pEF6 V5/His TOPO expression vector (Invitrogen), 1 µg of an NF-
B-dependent firefly luciferase reporter (ELAM 1 Luc) plasmid (63A), and 0.1 µg of a control Renilla luciferase reporter (pRL-TK; Promega) plasmid. Stable cell lines were selected with 5 µg of blasticidin (Calbiochem) per ml and cloned by limiting dilution. Individual clones that demonstrated TLR2-specific recognition of synthetic bacterial lipopeptide PAM3CSK4 (Roche Biochemicals) or TLR5-specific recognition of purified bacterial flagellin (29) were chosen and used for the assays reported in this study. Clones were plated at approximately 2 x 104 cells per well in 96-well plates and, after 48 h, stimulated with bacterial products for 5 h at 37°C in 5% CO2. Firefly and Renilla luciferase activities were measured with the Dual Luciferase Assay System (Promega). Luciferase activity was calculated as a ratio of NF-
B-dependent ELAM firefly luciferase activity divided by control thymidine kinase Renilla luciferase activity (relative luciferase units). Fold induction was calculated by dividing the luciferase values for the test conditions by the relative luciferase value for the control condition.

RESULTS
Surface organelles contain natural Salmonella antigens recognized by CD4+ T cells from immune mice.
We orally infected mice (
15) with
S. enterica serovar Typhimurium
strain SL3261 (
31) and generated
Salmonella-specific CD4
+ T-cell
lines (see Materials and Methods). SDS-PAGE-fractionated bacteria
were used as a source of stimulatory antigen in proliferation
assays, and the responses of the
Salmonella-specific T-cell
line MAR.D demonstrated recognition of proteins of various molecular
weights (Fig.
1). As previously described, FliC was an important
stimulatory antigen for CD4
+ T cells from infected mice (
15,
49) (Fig.
1, fraction 21). The second largest response was to
a lower-molecular-weight fraction (
15); we isolated antigen-specific
CD4
+ T-cell clones that only responded to SDS-PAGE fraction
10 (Fig.
1, T-cell clone F4, 1 of 32 representative clones),
recognized antigen in the context of the class II MHC molecule
E
k, and were no longer stimulated by
Salmonella antigen treated
with proteinase K in the presence of detergent (see below).
Since an important natural antigen from salmonellae, FliC, is
a secreted bacterial protein, we tested bacterium-free supernatant
from exponentially growing
Salmonella cultures for the presence
of stimulatory antigen recognized by T-cell clones like F4.
Interestingly, stimulatory antigen in supernatant was completely
retained by diafiltration membranes with a molecular weight
cutoff of 100,000. When the supernatant was separated by size
exclusion chromatography,
Salmonella-specific CD4
+ T-cell clone
F4 recognized a single species with an apparent molecular weight
between 700,000 and 88,000,000 (Fig.
2A). Electron microscopy
of concentrated supernatant revealed MVs 100 to 200 nm in diameter
(Fig.
2B) that were clearly distinguishable from bacteria in
size (salmonellae are 0.5 to 1 by 2 µm) (
56). MVs are
spherical structures derived from the bacterial outer membrane
and are expressed by numerous bacteria (
11,
46). In addition
to outer membrane proteins and LPS (
11), MVs have been shown
to contain numerous bacterial virulence factors (
5,
20,
33,
34,
39-
41,
71) and to mediate delivery of bacterial components
to the cytoplasm of host cells (
9,
20,
34,
38,
39,
71) by mechanisms
that are independent of type I-V secretory systems (
71). Because
of the increasingly well-defined and specific mechanisms by
which MVs contribute to bacterial pathogenesis, we propose that
they be considered bacterial surface organelles, analogous to
fimbriae or flagella.
Further characterization of MVs produced by
S. enterica serovar
Typhimurium revealed a unique protein profile that was distinct
from that of whole bacteria (Fig.
3A), lacking the cytoplasmic-inner
membrane protein SecA but enriched for outer membrane proteins
(Fig.
3B). The intimate association of antigen with MVs was
demonstrated by destruction of stimulatory activity by proteinase
K digestion only when membranes were solubilized with detergent
(Fig.
3C). The association with LPS in MVs (
11) was particularly
avid, as demonstrated by the ability of stimulatory activity
to resist extraction by phenol (
6) and urea (
34) (data not shown).
Similar to FliC, the major subunit protein of
Salmonella flagella,
stimulatory antigen in MVs was surface exposed; proteinase K
treatment did not destroy antigenic activity but converted it
to a lower-molecular-weight species (Fig.
3D). Our data demonstrate
that the adaptive immune system recognizes antigens present
in bacterial MVs.
Vesicle production is triggered by in vivo growth of diverse
intracellular pathogens, including
S. enterica serovar Typhimurium
(
22) and
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (
8,
57,
63). Because of
their association with the bacterial surface, MVs are favorably
accessible to host antigen-processing machinery. We hypothesized
that MVs would therefore provide a rich source of natural antigens
for the adaptive immune response. To test this hypothesis, we
used splenocytes from infected mice as APC directly ex vivo
to generate
Salmonella-specific CD4
+ T-cell clones (see Materials
and Methods); 73% (41 of 56) of these clones responded to vesicle
proteins. As a further test, when CD4
+ T-cell clones were derived
from immunized mice in the absence of the dominant antigen FliC,
50% (12 of 24) proliferated in response to proteins expressed
in MVs (Fig.
4A). These clones recognized vesicle antigens with
apparent molecular masses of 10, 12, and 18 kDa, and individual
clones only responded to single fractions from SDS-PAGE-fractionated
bacteria (data not shown). Interestingly, the remaining CD4
+ T-cell clones isolated in the absence of FliC (
n = 12) proliferated
in response to purified FljB (Fig.
4B), the alternate flagellar
subunit protein that can be expressed by
S. enterica serovar
Typhimurium (
2). Finally, 100% (14 of 14) of the clones derived
from
Salmonella-immune mice in the absence of both FliC and
FljB recognized vesicle antigens. Thus, flagella and MVs, complex
multicomponent surface organelles, contain the natural antigens
most frequently recognized by CD4
+ T cells isolated from protectively
immunized mice.
Intimate association of TLR ligands with natural Salmonella antigens.
Because of the presumed interconnected functioning of the innate
and adaptive immune systems and our observations that host CD4
+ T-cell responses preferentially target antigens with particular
attributes, we predicted that conserved surface organelles would
also contain the bacterial components recognized by innate immune
receptors during
Salmonella infection. Consistent with this
hypothesis,
Salmonella vesicles activated TLR2-dependent NF-

B
transcription in CHO cells at levels comparable to that of a
control synthetic bacterial lipopeptide (
4,
13) (Fig.
5A), indicating
that MVs contain TLR2 ligands. The innate immune system also
recognized FljB; compared with the known ligand FliC (
29), purified
FljB stimulated similar levels of TLR5-dependent NF-

B activation
in CHO cells (Fig.
5B). Considering that
Salmonella vesicles
also contain the TLR4 ligand LPS (
11,
60), these results demonstrate
that natural antigens recognized by
Salmonella-specific CD4
+ T cells are TLR5 ligands (FliC or FljB flagellin) or are intimately
associated with TLR-2 and -4 ligands (lipoprotein [Fig.
5A]
and LPS [Fig.
3C], respectively) in MVs.
Genetically coordinated surface modifications reduce expression of important bacterial antigens.
The two-component regulatory system PhoP/PhoQ, composed of the
sensor kinase PhoQ and the response regulator PhoP, both activates
and represses bacterial gene expression in response to environmental
signals (
24) such as those encountered by salmonellae during
growth inside host phagocytic cells. PhoP/PhoQ activation regulates
virulence and increases resistance to innate immunity (
18,
24)
via bacterial surface modifications that promote resistance
to cationic antimicrobial peptides (
19,
25,
28) and render LPS
less immunostimulatory (
27). Given that bacterial surface organelles
contain natural antigens recognized by CD4
+ T cells responding
to
Salmonella infection, we investigated the influence of PhoP/PhoQ
on the production of those antigens.
Salmonella strains with
mutations that increase the active phosphorylated form of PhoP
(PhoP
c and PhoP*) (
14,
26,
42,
52) provide a genetic means to
examine antigen production by bacteria during PhoP/PhoQ activation.
T-cell proliferation assays with clones specific for proteins
expressed in surface organelles revealed a 100- to 10,000-fold
reduction in stimulatory activity of PhoP
c and PhoP* salmonellae
relative to wild-type and PhoP
strains (Fig.
6A to C).
Similarly, TLR5-dependent NF-

B activation by wild-type and PhoP
strains was equivalent (data not shown). However, the PhoPc
and PhoP* mutations eliminated TLR5 stimulation (indistinguishable
from that of a nonflagellated strain; Fig.
6D). These data were
confirmed by Western analysis of the same strains for FliC production
(data not shown), as well as other studies (
1). This is the
first demonstration of PhoP/PhoQ regulation of antigens recognized
by both the innate and adaptive immune systems and suggests
that salmonellae may have evolved a means to coordinately reduce
production of ligands for both the innate and adaptive immune
systems in order to facilitate their growth in host tissues.

DISCUSSION
We have shown that during infection with
S. enterica serovar
Typhimurium, T-cell responses to natural antigens expressed
in the bacterial surface organelles flagella and MVs are generated.
Antigens recognized by
Salmonella-specific T cells directly
stimulate TLRs or are intrinsically associated with TLR ligands.
In addition, salmonellae repress antigen expression via PhoP/PhoQ,
the two-component regulatory system that controls resistance
to innate immunity. These results suggest that genetically coordinated
surface modifications enhance
Salmonella growth in vivo by diminishing
both innate and adaptive immune recognition.
Many bacterial pathogens express surface organelles like flagella and MVs (11, 46, 53). Recognition of such conserved surface structures is an obvious benefit to the host, but this receptor-ligand interaction may also be exploited by pathogens in various ways as a virulence strategy. For example, TLR-initiated innate immune responses could recruit cells permissive for bacterial replication (47) to the site of infection (37). Indeed, pathogens such as shigellae and mycobacteria, which infect and replicate within eukaryotic cells, actively secrete lipoproteins stimulatory for TLR2 (3, 13). Other pathogens may use TLR recognition of their surface organelles to deliver specific virulence factors without the need for dedicated, toxin-specific host receptors. For example, delivery of heat-labile enterotoxin (34) and ClyA cytotoxin (71) from Escherichia coli and packaging of virulence proteins like the hemolysins and proteases expressed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (39, 40) rely on MVs. Finally, intoxication of host cells or inappropriate stimulation of inflammatory responses may favor bacterial colonization and replication in vivo. S. enterica serovar Typhimurium uses such a strategy by activating the caspase-1 protease in macrophages, initiating an inflammatory cell death (12) required for Salmonella infection in vivo (55). Thus, microbes appear to have evolved a subset of pathogenic mechanisms specifically to exploit host immune recognition.
As an alternative to exploitation, bacterial pathogens may also use multiple strategies to avoid innate and adaptive immune responses. For example, P. aeruginosa successfully colonizes the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients in part by growing as a biofilm, a virtual mat of microbes with increased resistance to opsonization and phagocytosis (17). LPS signaling through TLR4 has recently been shown to play an important role in the generation of both innate and adaptive immune responses to Salmonella infection (70), and persistence of Helicobacter pylori in infected hosts is thought to be facilitated by reduced signaling through TLR4 (7, 66) and TLR5 (23, 44). During malarial infection, the host humoral immune response targets malarial antigens expressed at the surface of infected red blood cells; plasmodia counter by expressing different alleles to generate antigenic variants that exhibit minimal immunological cross-reactivity (43). CD8+ T-cell responses are important for viral immunity, and herpes simplex virus, for example, has accordingly evolved mechanisms to interfere with class I MHC antigen presentation by blocking peptide translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum (72). Regulation of antigen production represents a new contribution to our understanding of the immune evasion mechanisms used by microbial pathogens. We demonstrate that activation of the PhoP/PhoQ regulon represses expression of surface antigens recognized by TLRs, as well as Salmonella-specific CD4+ T cells. Failure to repress FliC expression by PhoP Salmonella strains could therefore contribute to the generation of protective immune responses by these strains in murine and human hosts (19, 21, 30, 51, 69). Similarly, PhoP/PhoQ-coordinated surface modifications by virulent bacteria may facilitate chronic Salmonella persistence in humans (45, 59), exemplified by Typhoid Mary (61).
Additional experimental evidence confirms the dynamic nature of the interaction of salmonellae with their hosts and supports the idea that genetically coordinated surface modifications facilitate bacterial growth in vivo by diminishing innate and adaptive immune recognition. PhoP S. enterica serovar Typhimurium colonizes Peyer's patches after oral infection but fail to spread systemically to the liver and spleen and are attenuated for virulence (21). PhoP strains are also unable to complete other surface modifications, such as those that reduce the immunostimulatory capacity of their LPS (27) or down-regulate expression of critical antigens recognized by T cells (as shown here). These observations underscore the importance of multiple mechanisms that contribute to the successful elimination of PhoP salmonellae by host responses: TLR4 activation by LPS for limiting systemic Salmonella growth (58, 70), the significant proinflammatory stimulus provided by TLR5 when bacterial flagella are translocated across mucosal surfaces (73), and the recognition of flagella by the adaptive immune systems of humans (68) and mice (15, 49) orally infected with salmonellae.
In contrast to the limited dissemination of PhoP bacteria, PhoPc S. enterica serovar Typhimurium is capable of spreading systemically in infected mice (32). Therefore the activation of PhoP/PhoQ, which directs repression and modification of surface ligands and reduces bacterial recognition by the innate and adaptive immune responses, appears to be one contributing factor that affords these mutants the ability to travel beyond the gastrointestinal mucosa after oral infection. It is also noteworthy that PhoPc mutants are attenuated and potently immunogenic and can persist in dendritic cells (32). Considering that the dendritic cell is the tour de force APC in the immunological organ system, it is no surprise that the host, with an almost infinite number of antigenic specificities among immunoglobulins and a T-cell compartment with the capacity of generating at least 1018 different receptors (16), mounts an immune response and eliminates infections caused by PhoPc S. enterica serovar Typhimurium. Further, unlike wild-type salmonellae, PhoPc bacteria fail to invade and replicate in epithelial cells (10) and macrophages (52). These host cells are less potent activators of immune responses and provide critical havens for Salmonella replication: the inability of naive susceptible mice to control infections caused by wild-type salmonellae suggests that evasion of innate and adaptive immune responses may be one reason such sites are important for the pathogenesis of virulent infections. Finally, it is clear that effective "cloaking devices" are functional and biologically relevant because wild-type salmonellae can persistently colonize the mesenteric lymph nodes of genetically resistant mice (54).
Comprehensive identification of bacterial antigens may further solidify the intriguing connection between innate and adaptive immune recognition (16). Irrespective of antigen identity, however, our results indicate that localization in surface organelles and coordinate regulation by PhoP/Q are important features of natural bacterial antigens recognized in vivo. The existence of genetically programmed responses of the pathogen to resist innate and adaptive immune recognition supports the proposal that microbial pathogenesis has been shaped by the host immune system. That is, a coevolutionary dynamic exists in which coordinated immune recognition of microbial antigens selects for pathogens capable of exploiting, modulating, or evading that recognition in order to successfully colonize and infect their hosts.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Robert Alaniz for useful discussions and critical review
of the manuscript.
This work was supported by Public Health Service National Research Service award T32 GM07270 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (M.A.B.) and by National Institutes of Health grant A147242 (B.T.C.).

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Mailstop 357110, 1959 NE Pacific Ave., Seattle, WA 98195. Phone: (206) 598-6131. Fax: (206) 598-6189. E-mail:
cookson{at}u.washington.edu.

Editor: V. J. DiRita
Present address: Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 021112. 

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