Entry of Listeria monocytogenes into hepatocytes requires expression of InIB, a surface protein of the internalin multigene family |
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| Authors: | Shaynoor Dramsi Indranil Biswas Emmanuelle Maguin Laurence Braun Pietro Mastroeni Pascale Cossart |
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| Affiliation: | Unite des Intéractions Bactéries-Cellules et CNRS URA 1300, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr Roux, Paris 75015, France.;Laboratoire de Génétique Microbienne, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine de Vilvert, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France.;Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QP, UK. |
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| Abstract: | The intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes can invade several types of normally non-phagocytic cells. Entry into cultured epithelial cells requires the expression of inIA, the first gene of an operon, comprising two genes: inIA, which encodes internalin, an 800-amino-acid protein, and inIB, which encodes a 630-amino-acid protein. Several genes homologous to inIA are detected in the genome of L. monocytogenes; InIB is one of them. We have assessed the role of inIB In invasiveness of L. monocytogenes by constructing isogenic chromosomal deletion mutants in the inIAB locus. Our findings indicate that: i) inIB is required for entry of L. monocytogenes into hepatocytes, but not into intestinal epithelial cells; ii) inIB encodes a surface protein; iii) internalin plays a role for entry into some hepatocyte cell lines. These results provide the first insight into the cell tropism displayed by L. monocytogenes. |
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