Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Applying Live Cell Imaging and Cryo-Electron Tomography to Resolve Spatiotemporal Features of the Legionella pneumophila Dot/Icm Secretion System
Published on: March 10, 2020
Many substrates and functions of type II secretion: lessons learned from Legionella pneumophila
1Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Northwestern University Medical School, 320 East Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611, USA. n-cianciotto@northwestern.edu
Abstract:
Type II secretion is one of six systems that exist in Gram-negative bacteria for the purpose of secreting proteins into the extracellular milieu and/or into host cells. This article will review the various recent studies of Legionella pneumophila that have increased our appreciation of the numbers, types and novelties of proteins that can be secreted via the type II system, as well as the many ways in which type II secretion can promote bacterial physiology, growth, ecology, intracellular infection and virulence. In this context, type II secretion represents a potentially important target for industrial and biomedical applications.
Related Concept Videos
Gram-negative Bacterial Protein Secretion Systems
Regulation of Bacterial Virulence
Fimbriae, Pili, and Axial Filaments
Colonisation of Pathogens
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Outer Layers of the Cell Envelope

