ArticlePLoS pathogens2017
Listeria monocytogenes switches from dissemination to persistence by adopting a vacuolar lifestyle in epithelial cells.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- PrfA, the master virulence regulator of Listeria monocytogenes: structural-functional insights, regulatory architecture, and antivirulence strategies.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Heritable single-cell gene expression states shape functional variability in innate immune responses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Immune Responses to Phage Therapy in Humans: A Review.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Review
- Large-scale phenotyping and comparative genomics reveal genetic features of Listeria persistence in epithelial cells.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Persistence ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Adaptive metabolic strategies of intracellular bacterial pathogens.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Engineered Endosymbionts that Modulate Primary Macrophage Function and Attenuate Tumor Growth by Shifting the Tumor Microenvironment.ACS applied bio materials · 2025Article
- Divergent host-pathogen interactions in neurolisteriosis: cytosolic replication vs. phagosomal dormancy of Listeria monocytogenes in CNS macrophages.Acta neuropathologica · 2025Article
- Article
- Viable but non-cultivable state in oral microbiota: a critical review of an underexplored microbial survival strategy.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Review
- Host Lipid Manipulation by Intracellular Bacteria: Moonlighting for Immune Evasion.The Journal of membrane biology · 2023Review
- Article
- In Vitro and In Vivo Virulence Study ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Article
- Immune response modulation bybioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Intracellular persister: A stealth agent recalcitrant to antibiotics.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- Live-cell imaging reveals single-cell and population-level infection strategies ofFrontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- A bacterial virulence factor interacts with the splicing factor RBM5 and stimulates formation of nuclear RBM5 granules.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The potential role of ischaemia-reperfusion injury in chronic, relapsing diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Long COVID, and ME/CFS: evidence, mechanisms, and therapeutic implications.The Biochemical journal · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis, a foodborne disease that poses serious risks to fetuses, newborns and immunocompromised adults. This intracellular bacterial pathogen proliferates in the host cytosol and exploits the host actin polymerization machinery to spread from cell-to-cell and disseminate in the host. Here, we report that during several days of infection in human hepatocytes or trophoblast cells, L. monocytogenes switches from this active motile lifestyle to a stage of persistence in vacuoles. Upon intercellular spread, bacteria gradually stopped producing the actin-nucleating protein ActA and became trapped in lysosome-like vacuoles termed Listeria-Containing Vacuoles (LisCVs). Subpopulations of bacteria resisted degradation in LisCVs and entered a slow/non-replicative state. During the subculture of host cells harboring LisCVs, bacteria showed a capacity to cycle between the vacuolar and the actin-based motility stages. When ActA was absent, such as in ΔactA mutants, vacuolar bacteria parasitized host cells in the so-called "viable but non-culturable" state (VBNC), preventing their detection by conventional colony counting methods. The exposure of infected cells to high doses of gentamicin did not trigger the formation of LisCVs, but selected for vacuolar and VBNC bacteria. Together, these results reveal the ability of L. monocytogenes to enter a persistent state in a subset of epithelial cells, which may favor the asymptomatic carriage of this pathogen, lengthen the incubation period of listeriosis, and promote bacterial survival during antibiotic therapy.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.