Legionella pneumophila - a human pathogen that co-evolved with fresh water protozoa.
The bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila is found ubiquitously in fresh water environments where it replicates within protozoan hosts. When inhaled by humans it can replicate within alveolar macrophages and cause a severe pneumonia, Legionnaires disease. Yet much needs to be learned regarding the mechanisms that allow Legionella to modulate host functions to its advantage and the regulatory network governing its intracellular life cycle. The establishment and publication of the complete genome sequences of three clinical L. pneumophila isolates paved the way for major breakthroughs in understanding the biology of L. pneumophila. Based on sequence analysis many new putative virulence factors have been identified foremost among them eukaryotic-like proteins that may be implicated in many different steps of the Legionella life cycle. This review summarizes what is currently known about regulation of the Legionella life cycle and gives insight in the Legionella-specific features as deduced from genome analysis.
Albert-Weissenberger
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Unité de Génomique des Microorganismes Pathogènes and CNRS URA 2171, Institut Pasteur, 25 Rue du Dr Roux, 75724, Paris Cedex 15, France. cbuch@pasteur.fr
Cazalet
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Buchrieser
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D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000382:microbiology*; D005618:Fresh Water; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors