Identification of Legionella pneumophila mutants that have aberrant intracellular fates

After uptake by macrophages, Legionella pneumiophila evades phagosome-lysosome fusion and replicates in a compartment associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. A collection of bacterial mutants defective for growth in macrophages were isolated, and the intracellular fate of each mutant strain was analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. To measure intracellular replication, bacteria inside macrophages were stained with the DNA dye 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Evasion of the endocytic pathway was quantified by immunofluorescence localization of lp120 [correction of IgpI20] (LAMP-1), a membrane protein of late endosomes and lysosomes, or by measuring colocalization of bacteria with a fluorescent tracer, Texas red-ovalbumin, preloaded into lysosomes. Replication vacuoles were quantified by immunofluorescence localization of BiP, an endoplasmic reticulum protein. By these approaches, four phenotypic groups of mutants were classified. One class formed replication vacuoles less efficiently than the wild type did; another formed replication vacuoles, but replication was abortive; in another class, most phagosomes containing bacteria acquired markers of the endocytic pathway but a minority formed replication vacuoles and the bacteria replicated; finally, a fourth class, the one most defective for intracellular growth, occupied vacuoles that acquired markers of the endocytic pathway.