title: Actin-based bacterial motility.
abstract: Listeria monocytogenes and other bacterial pathogens move in the host cell cytoplasm, propelled by continuous actin assembly at one pole of the bacterium. This actin-based motility requires the presence of the bacterial proteins ActA on L. monocytogenes and IcsA on Shigella flexneri. There have been several major discoveries in the past year: the discovery of the polar distribution of ActA and IcsA on the bacterial surface; the demonstration that bacterial ActA is phosphorylated in infected host cells; the involvement of some host cell proteins, particularly profilin; and the dramatic effect of ActA expression in transfected eukaryotic cells. A cell-free system that reconstitutes faithfully the actin-based motility of L. monocytogenes promises to be instrumental in the further dissection of this fascinating phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cossart
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000502:physiology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000502:physiology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012763:Shigella flexneri / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C058483:virG protein, Shigella flexneri; C072980:actA protein, Listeria monocytogenes