Legionella pneumophila Entry Gene rtxA Is Involved in Virulence

Authors

Suat L. G. Cirillo, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Luis E. Bermudez, Kuzell Institute for Arthritis and Infectious Diseases, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California
Sahar H. El-Etr, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Gerald Duhamel, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Jeffrey D. Cirillo, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-1-2001

Comments

INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, Jan. 2001, p. 508–517 Vol. 69, No. 1 Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. Used by permission.

Abstract

Successful parasitism of host cells by intracellular pathogens involves adherence, entry, survival, intracellular replication, and cell-to-cell spread. Our laboratory has been examining the role of early events, adherence and entry, in the pathogenesis of the facultative intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Currently, the mechanisms used by L. pneumophila to gain access to the intracellular environment are not well understood. We have recently isolated three loci, designated enh1, enh2, and enh3, that are involved in the ability of L. pneumophila to enter host cells. One of the genes present in the enh1 locus, rtxA, is homologous to repeats in structural toxin genes (RTX) found in many bacterial pathogens. RTX proteins from other bacterial species are commonly cytotoxic, and some of them have been shown to bind to β₂ integrin receptors. In the current study, we demonstrate that the L. pneumophila rtxA gene is involved in adherence, cytotoxicity, and pore formation in addition to its role in entry. Furthermore, an rtxA mutant does not replicate as well as wild-type L. pneumophila in monocytes and is less virulent in mice. Thus, we conclude that the entry gene rtxA is an important virulence determinant in L. pneumophila and is likely to be critical for the production of Legionnaires’ disease in humans.