The phrase "act as pathogens" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts related to biology, medicine, or microbiology when discussing organisms that cause disease.
Example: "Certain bacteria can act as pathogens, leading to infections in humans."
Alternatives: "function as pathogens" or "serve as pathogens."
Burkholderia organisms act as pathogens, endophytes, and symbionts [ 1, 2].
Moreover, some Fusobacteria could act as pathogens, which may cause intestinal inflammation that would result in increased faecal calprotectin levels.
The results of this study are in line with the recent studies suggesting that beneficial microbes can also act as pathogens.
Endophytes may indirectly affect host health by altering the potential of other species in the community to act as pathogens or mutualists (e.g., Fravel et al. 2003).
High community carriage rates of MR-CoNS are of concern for animals and humans, as these organisms may not only be reservoirs of resistance genes for CoPS [ 39, 40, 86], but also act as pathogens [ 31, 36- 38, 87- 89].
It is possible that the sediments act as pathogen reservoirs on Magnetic Island, however this was beyond the scope of the present study.
Early studies of A. tumefaciens-plant interactions suggested that A. tumefaciens did not produce elicitors that elicit plant immune responses, as flagellin and flagellin-derived peptides from A. tumefaciens failed to act as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs, also known as microbial associated molecular patterns (MAMPs)), in Arabidopsis thaliana [13], [14].
Concerning innate immunity, several conserved molecular structures of Plasmodium have been proposed to act as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and are activating Toll-like receptors (TLRs) on macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), such as glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), which is a TLR2 ligand [6].
Viral nucleic acids act as pathogen-associated molecular patterns and are recognized by multiple TLRs.
Flavonoids are often stored in plant tissues as 'pre-formed' defense compounds and may act as pathogen and herbivore deterrents [ 33].
They act as pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs), identifying microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), that are specific for microbes and essential for their survival.
