Characterization of Legionella pneumophila pmiA, a gene essential for infectivity of protozoa and macrophages.

ABSTRACT: The ability of Legionella pneumophila to cause pneumonia is dependent on intracellular replication within alveolar macrophages. The Icm/Dot secretion apparatus is essential for the ability of L. pneumophila to evade endocytic fusion, to remodel the phagosome by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and to replicate intracellularly. Protozoan and macrophage infectivity (pmi) mutants of L. pneumophila, which include 11 dot/icm mutants, exhibit defects in intracellular growth and replication within both protozoa and macrophages. In this study we characterized one of the pmi loci, pmiA. In contrast to the parental strain, the pmiA mutant is defective in cytopathogenicity for protozoa and macrophages. This is a novel mutant that exhibits a partial defect in survival within U937 human macrophage-like

SUBMITTER: Miyake M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1230894 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature