Adhesion Molecules-28

Advances and Experimental-3

Aging-9

Agricultural Biotechnology-37

Angiogenesis-29

Antisense-4

Apoptosis-49

Atherosclerosis-12

Autoimmunity-69

Bacterial Virulence-18

Bioinformatics-13

BioMaterials-18

Biosurfactants-1

Biotechnology-99

Cancer Genetics-25

Cancer Metastasis-19

Cell Biology-16

Cell Cycle-34

Cell Metabolism-327

Channels and Transporters-79

Chaperones-11

Circadian Rhythms-13

Coagulation-14

Cytokines/Growth Factors-52

Development-223

DNA-56

DNA Surveillance and Repair-42

Drug Design-17

Endocrine-66

Evolution-33

Extracellular Matrix-30

Gastroenterology-52

Gene Expression-178

Gene Therapy-53

Heart-61

Heat Shock Proteins-19

Hematology-11

Immunology-93

Infectious Disease-71

Ischemia-Reperfusion-33

Leptin and Leptin Antagonists-1

Medical-20

MHC-17

Mitochondria-17

Molecular Biology-15

Molecular Complexes and Signaling-1

Nanomedicine-30

Neurodegenerative Disease-72

Neuropharmacology-112

Neuroscience-38

Nucleus-15

Oncogenes-8

Oncology-87

Parasitic Disease-12

Pharmacogenomics-14

Prebiotic Evolution-2

Protein-12

Reproductive Biology-59

RNA-152

Signal Transduction-186

Stem Cells-80

Surgery-37

T-Cell Activation-12

Tissue Engineering-116

Transplant-51

Vaccines-82

Viruses-85

Chapter category: Bacterial Virulence

Against Gram-Negative Bacteria: The Lipopolysaccharide Case

Chapter authors:
Ignacio Moriyón

It is estimated that Bacteria and eucaryotes have coexisted for about 1400 millions years on Earth. The immune system is one of the results of this coexistence, and its cornerstone the ability to distinguish self from non-self, an ability shared by both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Adaptive immunity can detect subtle variations in just one or few components of macromolecules, and this provides a powerful mechanism for identification of foreign or altered macromolecules. On the other hand, the far less sophisticated innate immunity relies on the recognition of overall molecular patterns (MPs) absent from self and repeatedly used by microbes, and the molecules that take part in such recognition and activate the innate immune system have been termed pattern recognition receptors (PRR).¹ Recent evidence shows that mechanisms of recognition of foreign MPs have been highly conserved throughout evolution² and this stresses that, as they act before the adaptive system becomes fully active, such mechanisms constitute an indispensable first line of defense against microbial invaders. Moreover, evolution has tuned fine mechanisms of interplay by which the innate system bolsters adaptive immunity.

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