Legionella pneumophila

Legionella pneumophila
	Colorized scanning electron micrograph image of L. pneumophila
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Pseudomonadota
Class:	Gammaproteobacteria
Order:	Legionellales
Family:	Legionellaceae
Genus:	Legionella
Species:	L. pneumophila
Binomial name
	Legionella pneumophila; Brenner DJ, Steigerwalt AG, McDade JE 1979

Legionella pneumophila is an aerobic, pleomorphic, flagellated, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus Legionella.^[1]^[2] L. pneumophila is the primary human pathogen in the genus Legionella. In nature, L. pneumophila infects soil amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba and freshwater amoeboflagellates of the genus Naegleria.^[3] This pathogen is thus found commonly near freshwater environments^[4] and invades the unicellular life found in these environments, using them to carry out metabolic functions.^[5]

L. pneumophila is also the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, also known as legionellosis. Due to L. pneumophila’s ability to thrive in water, it can grow in water filtration systems, leading to faucets, showers, and other fixtures and then spread through aerosolized water droplets.^[5] Once infected, this bacterium can cause pneumonia with symptoms such as fever, delirium, diarrhea, and decreased liver and kidney function.^[6]

After initial discovery, it was found that Legionella replicates inside amoeba and amoeboflagellates, which suggests that bacteria replicating in environmental protozoa have the ability to exploit signaling pathways in human macrophages.^[7]

^ Madigan M, Martinko J, eds. (2005). Brock Biology of Microorganisms (11th ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-144329-1.
^ Heuner K, Swanson M, eds. (2008). Legionella: Molecular Microbiology. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-26-4.
^ Cite error: The named reference pmid7451664 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Uzel_2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference pmid24185913 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Djordjevic Z, Folic M, Petrovic I, Zornic S, Stojkovic A, Miljanovic A, et al. (May 2022). "An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in newborns in Serbia". Paediatrics and International Child Health. 42 (2): 59–66. doi:10.1080/20469047.2022.2108672. PMID 35944175. S2CID 251468797.
^ Gomez-Valero L, Buchrieser C (June 2013). "Genome dynamics in Legionella: the basis of versatility and adaptation to intracellular replication". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine. 3 (6): a009993. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a009993. PMC 3662349. PMID 23732852.

[Brock-1] Madigan M, Martinko J, eds. (2005). Brock Biology of Microorganisms (11th ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-144329-1.

[HeunerK-2] Heuner K, Swanson M, eds. (2008). Legionella: Molecular Microbiology. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-26-4.

[pmid7451664-3] Cite error: The named reference pmid7451664 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Uzel_2010-4] Cite error: The named reference Uzel_2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[pmid24185913-5] Cite error: The named reference pmid24185913 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[6] Djordjevic Z, Folic M, Petrovic I, Zornic S, Stojkovic A, Miljanovic A, et al. (May 2022). "An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in newborns in Serbia". Paediatrics and International Child Health. 42 (2): 59–66. doi:10.1080/20469047.2022.2108672. PMID 35944175. S2CID 251468797.

[7] Gomez-Valero L, Buchrieser C (June 2013). "Genome dynamics in Legionella: the basis of versatility and adaptation to intracellular replication". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine. 3 (6): a009993. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a009993. PMC 3662349. PMID 23732852.

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