What Role Does Acta Play In Listeria Monocytogenes?

Listeria monocytogenes (L.monocytogenes) is a gram-positive bacterium that is an intracellular human pathogen. L.monocytogenes can persist in vast environmental and animal reservoirs including but not limited: food processing plants, dairy milking equipment, wild birds, and silage (1–3). L.monocytogenes can be seeded into environmental reservoirs through exit of carriers or animal reservoirs by secretion in feces. Handling of equipment used in the production of food for human consumption near or in a L.monocytogenes reservoir can serve as a vehicle of transmission to susceptible hosts. For instance, milking of dairy cows with contaminated equipment can lead to contaminated raw milk products, and secretion of L.monocytogenes from animal reservoirs …show more content…
ActA has been shown to have a role in actin rearrangements. Eukaryotic mitochondrial cells transfected with actA display colocalization of ActA with actin indicating ActA has the ability to induce host actin rearrangement (14). Further supporting evidence for the role of actA in L.monocytogenes host intracellular growth is the fact deletion of actA leads to smaller plaque formation on mouse L2 cells (15). Production of ActA and rearranging host actin at a pole allows for L.monocytogenes to be propelled to the cell periphery and facilitate entry into an adjacent …show more content…
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