BdhA-patD operon as a virulence determinant, revealed by a novel large-scale approach for identification of Legionella pneumophila mutants defective for amoeba infection.

ABSTRACT: Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, is an intracellular parasite of eukaryotic cells. In the environment, it colonizes amoebae. After being inhaled into the human lung, the bacteria infect and damage alveolar cells in a way that is mechanistically similar to the amoeba infection. Several L. pneumophila traits, among those the Dot/Icm type IVB protein secretion machinery, are essential for exploiting host cells. In our search for novel Legionella virulence factors, we developed an agar plate assay, designated the scatter screen, which allowed screening for mutants deficient in infecting Acanthamoeba castellanii amoebae. Likewise, an L. pneumophila clone bank consisting of 23,000 transposon mutants was investigated here, and 19 different established Legionel

SUBMITTER: Aurass P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2704810 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature