Phenotypic heterogeneity of Legionella in phagocytes

The opportunistic pathogen Legionella pneumophila establishes a distinct replication-permissive vacuole in amoeba and macrophages. For cell-cell communication, the bacteria employ the Lqs (Legionella quorum sensing) system that produces and detects the α-hydroxyketone LAI-1 (Legionella autoinducer-1). The Lqs system includes the autoinducer synthase LqsA, the sensor kinases LqsS and LqsT, and the response regulator LqsR. In this project we analyse the phenotypic heterogeneity of extra- and intracellular L. pneumophila populations in response to small signaling molecules and metabolites.