Open AccessA Legionella pneumophila collagen‐like protein encoded by a gene with a variable number of tandem repeats is involved in the adherence and invasion of host cells
Author(s) -
Vandersmissen Liesbeth,
De Buck Emmy,
Saels Veerle,
Coil David A.,
Anné Jozef
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2010.01951.x
Subject(s) - variable number tandem repeat , biology , legionella pneumophila , tandem repeat , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , legionella , virulence , direct repeat , pathogen , serotype , virology , genetics , genome , bacteria , genotype
Legionella pneumophila is a Gram‐negative, facultative intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, a severe pneumonia in humans. Analysis of the Legionella sequenced genomes revealed a gene with a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs), whose number varies between strains. We examined the strain distribution of this gene among a collection of 108 clinical, environmental and hot spring serotype I strains. Twelve variants were identified, but no correlation was observed between the number of repeat units and clinical and environmental strains. The encoded protein contains the C‐terminal consensus motif of outer membrane proteins and has a large region of collagen‐like repeats that is encoded by the VNTR region. We have therefore annotated this protein Lcl for Legionella collagen‐like protein. Lcl was shown to contribute to the adherence and invasion of host cells and it was demonstrated that the number of repeat units present in lcl had an influence on these adhesion characteristics.