Dehio C New perspectives into bacterial DNA transfer to human cells. Trends Microbiol 2012

Abstract 1 The type IV secretion system (T4SS) VirB/D4 of the facultative intracellular pathogen 2 Bartonella henselae is known to translocate bacterial effector proteins into human 3 cells. Two recent reports on DNA transfer into human cells have demonstrated the 4 versatility of this bacterial secretion system for macromolecular substrate transfer. 5 Moreover, these findings have opened the possibility for developing new tools for DNA 6 delivery into specific human cell types. DNA can be introduced in these cells covalently 7 attached to a site-specific integrase with potential target sequences in the human 8 genome. This novel DNA delivery system is discussed in the context of existing 9 methods for genetic modification of human cells. 1