Study reveals Legionnaire
bacteria’s survival ‘trick’
Proteins within the bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s disease can hijack
their own molecular “coffin” and carry it to a safe place within
the cell, ensuring their survival, Yale School of Medicine researchers report
in the journal Nature.
“This supposedly simple organism continues to fascinate us with new tricks
that enable it to manipulate cells in our body that normally protect us against
bacterial infections,” says the lead author, Craig Roy, associate professor
of microbial pathogenesis at Yale.
Legionnaire’s disease acquired its name in 1976 when an outbreak of pneumonia
occurred among people attending a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia.
The bacteria that causes it — Legionella pneumophila — replicates
inside macrophage, which are cells that are part of the immune system and “eat” cellular
debris and toxins. Macrophages kill bacteria by transporting them in storage
bubbles known as vacuoles to organelles that have enzymes that then break down
the intruders.
“What makes this pathogen special is that it can control transport of the
vacuole formed after macrophages ingest the bacterium,” Roy says. “It
hijacks the vacuole and directs it to be transported to a nutrient-rich organelle
called the endoplasmic reticulum, where the bacteria replicate in high numbers.”
Roy and his colleagues identified the Legionella proteins that are involved in
the hijacking. They found that one protein, DrrA, that turns on a molecular switch,
Rab1, and subverts its function. This allows the Legionella to fuse the endoplasmic
reticulum and the vacuole, creating a compartment that ensures the bacteria will
survival. The scientists also found a second bacterial protein, LepB, that turns
off the Rab1 switch once the bacteria have successfully entered the endoplasmic
reticulum.
“In other words,” Roy said, “you can think of Legionella as
being a crafty burglar that enters a cell and uses the protein DrrA to turn on
a light, Rab1, that will illuminate the location of the safe, the endoplasmic
reticulum. Once Legionella has cracked the safe, LepB turns off the light to avoid detection.”
Co-authors include Alyssa Ingmundson of Yale and Anna Delprato and David Lambright
of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
The National Institutes of Health and a National Science Foundation Graduate
Research Fellowship supported this work.
— By Jacqueline Weaver
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