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Invasiveness and intracellular growth of Listeria monocytogenes

Invasivität und intrazelluläres Wachstum von Listeria monocytogenes

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Summary

Listeria monocytogenes is an invasive bacterial pathogen capable of multiplying inside many host cells, including macrophages, enterocytes and hepatocytes. There is evidence to believe that secretion of listeriolysin O, an SH-activated exotoxin, is crucial for bacterial growth in host tissues. This exotoxin is stimulated in iron-deprived medium and mostly active at low pH (5.5). Electron microscopic studies showed that intracellular bacteria rapidly disrupt the vacuole membrane of phagosomes and freely multiply inside the cytosol of infected cells, thus escaping at an early stage of infection from the cellular microbicidal mechanisms. Vacuole disruption does not occur with a nonhemolytic mutant obtained by insertion of a single copy of transposon Tn1545 in the structural gene of listeriolysin O. These results strongly suggest that listeriolysin O is a major factor promoting intracellular growth ofL. monocytogenes and that intracellular growth of virulent bacteria is initiated after escaping from the phagosomal compartment.

Zusammenfassung

Listeria monocytogenes ist ein invasiver bakterieller Erreger, der sich in zahlreichen Wirtszellen, einschließlich Makrophagen, Enterozyten und Hepatozyten vermehren kann. Nach vorliegenden Daten ist anzunehmen, daß die Sekretion des Listeriolysin O, eines SH-aktivierbaren Exotoxins, für das bakterielle Wachstum in Wirtsgeweben unerläßlich ist. Dieses Exotoxin wird in eisenfreiem Medium vermehrt sezerniert und ist bei pH 5,5 am aktivsten. Mittels elektronenmikroskopischer Studien konnte nachgewiesen werden, daß intrazelluläre Bakterien die Membran der Phagosomen-Vakuolen rasch aufbrechen und sich im Zytosol der infizierten Zellen frei vermehren. Damit entkommen sie in einem frühen Infektionsstadium den mikrobiziden Mechanismen der Zelle. Bei einer nicht-hämolysierenden Mutante, gewonnen durch Insertion einer einzigen Kopie des Transposon Tn1545 in das Strukturgen des Listeriolysin O, tritt die Zerstörung der Vakuole nicht ein. Nach diesen Ergebnissen ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, daß Listeriolysin O das intrazelluläre Wachstum vonL. monocytogenes entscheidend begünstigt, und daß das intrazelluläre Wachstum virulenter Bakterien beginnt, wenn sie aus dem phagosomalen Kompartiment entwichen sind.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Médecine Necker-Enfants Malades, Laboratoire de Microbiologie, F-75730, Paris Cedex 15

    P. Berche &  J. -L. Gaillard

  2. Faculté de Médecine Necker-Enfants Malades, Laboratoire d'Histologie, F-75730, Paris Cedex 15

    S. Richard

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  1. P. Berche
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Berche, P., Gaillard, J.L. & Richard, S. Invasiveness and intracellular growth of Listeria monocytogenes. Infection 16 (Suppl 2), S145–S148 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01639738

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