Quorum sensing governs a transmissive Legionella subpopulation at the pathogen vacuole periphery.

ABSTRACT: The Gram-negative bacterium Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease and replicates in amoebae and macrophages within a distinct compartment, the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). The facultative intracellular pathogen switches between a replicative, non-virulent and a non-replicating, virulent/transmissive phase. Here, we show on a single-cell level that at late stages of infection, individual motile (P_flaA -GFP-positive) and virulent (P_ralF - and P_sidC -GFP-positive) L. pneumophila emerge in the cluster of non-growing bacteria within an LCV. Comparative proteomics of P_flaA -GFP-positive and P_flaA -GFP-negative L. pneumophila subpopulations reveals distinct proteomes with flagellar proteins or cell div

SUBMITTER: Striednig B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8419707 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature