In Vivo Imaging of Meningococcal Disease Dynamics

Neisseria meningitidis is a human specific organism that causes severe sepsis and/or meningitis with high mortality. The disease scenario is rapid and much remains unknown about the disease process and host–pathogen interaction. In this chapter, we describe a protocol for generating a bioluminescently labeled N. meningitidis strain in order to advance our understanding of meningococcal disease progression. We also describe how in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI) can be used to observe novel features of the disease dynamics during meningococcal infection.