Use of zebrafish to study the pathogenesis and evolution of Shigella species

Shigella is an intracellular pathogen and dominant cause of dysentery globally. Four species
are currently recognized: Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Shigella dysenteriae and Shigella
boydii. Although the global phylogeography and evolutionary history of Shigella species is
starting to emerge, the underlying determinants are poorly understood. Zebrafish are a wellestablished
model system to study host-pathogen interactions in vivo. The Mostowy lab has
recently shown zebrafish are valuable to model Shigella infection in humans. This project will
use Shigella-zebrafish infection to comparatively investigate the pathogenesis of 4 Shigella
species, and study evolutionary phenomena indicated by recent genomics studies from the
Holt lab.