Intracellular bacteria and parasites have evolved many different strategies to elude host defense mechanisms. Although some of the pathogens including Listeria, Shigella, and Rickettsia escape into the cytoplasm to avoid lysosomal digestion, the major group is capable to adapt to intracellular environment and reside in membrane bound vesicles — phagosomes. The phagosomes containing intracellular parasites can arrest in the early (Mycobacterium spp., Ehrlichia chaffeensis) or late (Leishmania) endosomal stage of maturation and even mature to phagolysosome and adapt to this environment (Coxiella burnetii). In addition, several of the “parasitophorous vacuoles” remain completely separated from the conventional endocytic pathway and appear to interact with host non-endocytic organelles, such as Golgi apparatus (Chlamydia spp.), mitochondria (Toxoplasma, Chlamydia psittaci) or endoplasmicreticulum (Legionella, Toxoplasma, Brucella) [1]....

Keywords: Intracellular bacteria; parasites