Coxiella burnetii:living inside the host cell

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of Q fever.In this brief review,we describe how recently described mechanisms help our understanding of C.burnetii invasion and its survival in the host cell by the formation of a replicative niche:the Coxiella-containing vacuole.We describe the actin-associated proteins involved in the internalization of C.burnetii,and we discuss the contribution of diverse degradation pathways of the cell during the formation and stabilization of the Coxiella-containing vacuole.