Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Use of Galleria mellonella as a Model Organism to Study Legionella pneumophila Infection
Published on: November 22, 2013
Low genomic diversity of Legionella pneumophila within clinical specimens
S David1, M Mentasti2, J Parkhill3
1Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, United Kingdom.
Objectives:
Legionella pneumophila is the leading cause of Legionnaires' disease, a severe form of pneumonia acquired from environmental sources. Investigations of both sporadic cases and outbreaks rely mostly on analysis of a single to a few colony pick(s) isolated from each patient. However, because of the lack of data describing diversity within single patients, the optimal number of picks is unknown. Here, we investigated diversity within individual patients using sequence-based typing (SBT) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS).
Methods:
Ten isolates of L. pneumophila were obtained from each of ten epidemiologically unrelated patients. SBT and WGS were undertaken, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified between isolates from the same patient.
Results:
The same sequence type (ST) was obtained for each set of ten isolates. Using genomic analysis, zero SNPs were identified between isolates from seven patients, a maximum of one SNP was found between isolates from two patients, and a maximum of two SNPs was found amongst isolates from one patient. Assuming that the full within-host diversity has been captured with ten isolates, statistical analyses showed that, on average, analysis of one isolate would yield a 70% chance of capturing all observed genotypes, and seven isolates would yield a 90% chance.
Conclusions:
SBT and WGS analyses of multiple colony picks obtained from ten patients showed no, or very low, within-host genomic diversity in L. pneumophila, suggesting that analysis of one colony pick per patient will often be sufficient to obtain reliable typing data to aid investigation of cases of Legionnaires' disease.
More Related Videos
08:34Legionella pneumophila Outer Membrane Vesicles: Isolation and Analysis of Their Pro-inflammatory Potential on Macrophages
Published on: February 22, 2017
09:12Applying Live Cell Imaging and Cryo-Electron Tomography to Resolve Spatiotemporal Features of the Legionella pneumophila Dot/Icm Secretion System
Published on: March 10, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Genomics
Cell Diversity
Multicellular...
Diversity of Archaea II
Diversity of Protists I
Diversity of Protists II
Diversity of Archaea I