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BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS

Listeria pioneers

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 17, pages 196–197 (2019)Cite this article

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As an intracellular pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes uses host cell protrusions to spread between cells, for example in the intestinal epithelium during food-borne infection. The underlying molecular mechanisms, such as the formation of host actin ‘comet tails’ that propel the bacteria, have been studied in detail. However, little is known about the dynamics of L. monocytogenes populations during tissue spread. A new study that combines video microscopy and computational modelling shows that rare pioneer bacteria move beyond the original infectious focus, which might help maintain persistent infection.

Indeed, when the authors ran computer simulations, an infection arising from a single cell resulted in roughly circular foci if the cells carried out random walks. Even if the model took into account some persistence of directional movement, which could occur due to the comet tails, and the influence of cell boundaries, from which bacteria could ‘bounce off’, the simulated foci were more circular than the experimentally observed ones.

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References

Original article

  • Ortega, F. E., Koslover, E. F. & Theriot, J. A. Listeria monocytogenes cell-to-cell spread in epithelia is heterogeneous and dominated by rare pioneer bacteria. eLife 8, e40032 (2019)

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Further reading

  • Radoshevich, L. & Cossart, P. Listeria monocytogenes: towards a complete picture of its physiology and pathogenesis. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 16, 32–46 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Ursula Hofer

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  1. Ursula Hofer
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Correspondence to Ursula Hofer.

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Hofer, U. Listeria pioneers. Nat Rev Microbiol 17, 196–197 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0161-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0161-1

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