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Microbiology

Pathogen drop-kick

Nature volume 450, pages 361–362 (2007)Cite this article

To set the scene for its replication, the bacterium Legionella pneumophila exploits its host cells' Rab1 protein. This pathogen seems to use minimal resources to mimic the normal cycle of Rab1 activity.

The bacterium Legionella pneumophila is the main agent responsible for both Legionnaires' disease, which leads to pneumonia, and Pontiac fever, an illness that resembles acute influenza. This pathogen is engulfed by immune cells known as macrophages and, once inside, exploits proteins mediating intracellular trafficking to form an organelle called an L. pneumophila-containing vacuole, or LCV. The bacterium then replicates inside the LCV. Two papers1,2, including one by Ingmundson and colleagues that appears on page 365 of this issue, provide insight into how L. pneumophila uses one host-cell protein to form LCVs.

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Figure 1: How Legionella pneumophila exploits host-cell Rab1 protein.

References

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  1. Suzanne Pfeffer is in the Department of Biochemistry, 279 Campus Drive, Room B400, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5307, USA. pfeffer@stanford.edu,

    Suzanne Pfeffer

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  1. Suzanne Pfeffer
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Pfeffer, S. Pathogen drop-kick. Nature 450, 361–362 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450361a

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