The DotL protein, a member of the TraG-coupling protein family, is essential for Viability of Legionella pneumophila strain Lp02.

ABSTRACT: Legionella pneumophila is able to survive inside phagocytic cells by an internalization route that bypasses fusion of the nascent phagosome with the endocytic pathway to allow formation of a replicative phagosome. The dot/icm genes, a major virulence system of L. pneumophila, encode a type IVB secretion system that is required for intracellular growth. One Dot protein, DotL, has sequence similarity to type IV secretion system coupling proteins (T4CPs). In other systems, coupling proteins are not required for viability of the organism. Here we report the first example of a strain, L. pneumophila Lp02, in which a putative T4CP is essential for viability of the organism on bacteriological media. This result is particularly surprising since the majority of the dot/icm genes in Lp02 are dispens

SUBMITTER: Buscher BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1082803 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature