<i>Coxiella burnetii:</i> 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.