Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, a s
evere pneumonia. Dependent on the icm/dot loci, L. pneumophila survives and
replicates in macrophages and amoebae within a specialized phagosome that
does not fuse with lysosomes. Here, we report that phagocytosis of wild-typ
e L. pneumophila is more efficient than uptake of icm/dot mutants. Compared
with the wild-type strain JR32, about 10 times fewer icm/dot mutant bacter
ia were recovered from HL-60 macrophages in a gentamicin protection assay.
The defect in phagocytosis of the mutants could be complemented by supplyin
g the corresponding genes on a plasmid. Using fluorescence microscopy and g
reen fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing strains, 10-20 times fewer icm/do
t mutant bacteria were found to be internalized by HL-60 cells and human mo
nocyte-derived macrophages (HMM Phi). Compared with icm/dot mutants, wild-t
ype L.. pneumophila infected two to three times more macrophages and yielde
d a population of highly infected host cells (15-70 bacteria per macrophage
) that was not observed with icm/dot mutant strains. Wild-type and icmT mut
ant bacteria were found to adhere similarly and compete for binding to HMM
Phi. In addition, wild-type L. pneumophila was also phagocytosed more effic
iently by Acanthamoeba castellanii, indicating that the process is independ
ent of adherence receptor(s). Wild-type L. pneumophila enhanced phagocytosi
s of an icmT mutant strain in a synchronous co-infection, suggesting that i
ncreased phagocytosis results from (a) secreted effector(s) acting in trans
.