Cell biology of Legionella pneumophila

Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of a potentially fatal form o f pneumonia named Legionnaires' disease, L. pneumophila survives and replic ates inside macrophages by preventing phagosome-lysosome fusion. A large nu mber of L. pneumophila genes, called dot or icm, have been identified that are required for intracellular growth. It has recently been shown that the dot/icm genes code for a putative large membrane complex that forms a type IV secretion system used to alter the endocytic pathway.