The cytochrome c maturation locus of Legionella pneumophila promotes iron assimilation and intracellular infection and contains a strain-specific insertion sequence element.

ABSTRACT: Previously, we obtained a Legionella pneumophila mutant, NU208, that is hypersensitive to iron chelators when grown on standard Legionella media. Here, we demonstrate that NU208 is also impaired for growth in media that simply lack their iron supplement. The mutant was not, however, impaired for the production of legiobactin, the only known L. pneumophila siderophore. Importantly, NU208 was also highly defective for intracellular growth in human U937 cell macrophages and Hartmannella and Acanthamoeba amoebae. The growth defect within macrophages was exacerbated by treatment of the host cells with an iron chelator. Sequence analysis demonstrated that the transposon disruption in NU208 lies within an open reading frame that is highly similar to the cytochrome c maturation gene, ccmC. CcmC is

SUBMITTER: Viswanathan VK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC127876 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature