The recently discovered methodologies to cultivate and genetically manipulate Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (T. pallidum) have significantly helped syphilis research, allowing the in vitro evaluation of antibiotic efficacy, performance of controlled studies to assess differential treponemal gene expression, and generation of loss‐of‐function mutants to evaluate the contribution of specific genetic loci to T. pallidum virulence. Building on this progress, we engineered the T. pallidum SS14 strain to express a red‐shifted green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Sf1Ep cells to express mCherry and blue fluorescent protein (BFP) for enhanced visualization. These new resources improve microscopy‐ and cell sorting–based applications for T. pallidum, better capturing the physical interaction between the host and pathogen, among other possibilities. Continued efforts to develop and share new tools and resources are required to help our overall knowledge of T. pallidum biology and syphilis pathogenesis reach that of other bacterial pathogens, including spirochetes.

中文翻译：

---

梅毒研究的光明新资源：梅毒螺旋体和 Sf1Ep 细胞的基因编码荧光标签


最近发现的培养和基因操纵方法梅毒螺旋体亚种。苍白球（梅毒螺旋体）极大地帮助了梅毒研究，允许体外评估抗生素功效，进行对照研究以评估差异密螺旋体基因表达，以及生成功能丧失突变体以评估特定基因位点对梅毒的贡献梅毒螺旋体毒力。在此基础上，我们设计了梅毒螺旋体SS14 菌株表达红移绿色荧光蛋白 (GFP)，Sf1Ep 细胞表达 mCherry 和蓝色荧光蛋白 (BFP) 以增强可视化。这些新资源改进了基于显微镜和细胞分选的应用梅毒螺旋体，更好地捕捉宿主和病原体之间的物理相互作用以及其他可能性。需要继续努力开发和共享新的工具和资源，以帮助我们全面了解梅毒螺旋体生物学和梅毒发病机制与其他细菌病原体（包括螺旋体）相同。