Role of Legionella pneumophila-specific genes in pathogenesis

Abstract

Several studies have compared the virulence traits of different Legionella spp., yet little is known about the genetic basis of these phenotypic differences. To investigate genetic differences between L. pneumophila and L. micdadei, the authors performed a low stringency genomic subtractive hybridization between a serogroup 1 isolate of L. pneumophila and a clinical isolate of L. micdadei. Subtractive hybridization revealed 151 open reading frames (ORFs) present in L. pneumophila 02/41 and absent in L. micdadei 02/42. LadC is predicted to be an adenylate cyclase, as it possesses an intact HAMP signal transduction region and the catalytic domain for adenylate cyclases. There are several mecha..