Altering tissue tropism of Listeria monocytogenes by ectopically expressing human E-cadherin in transgenic mice

The Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes invades a variety of cells in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that L. monocytogenes is able to enter muscle cells if provided with the appropriate host receptor. Using a cardiac-specific promoter, human E-cadherin was misexpressed in the heart of transgenic mice. First, we demonstrate that L. monocytogenes is capable of infecting the E-cadherin-expressing, but not the N-cadherin-expressing cardiomyocytes in vitro. Second, we show that L. monocytogenes infects the heart of transgenic animals after administering the bacteria intravenously. This unique system may prove useful for understanding basic aspects of L. monocytogenes cell biology by comparing infection of muscle versus epithelial cells.