The Pore-Forming Toxin Listeriolysin O Mediates a Novel Entry Pathway of L. monocytogenes into Human Hepatocytes

Intracellular pathogens have evolved diverse strategies to invade and survive within host cells. Among the most studied facultative intracellular pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes is known to express two invasins-InlA and InlB-that induce bacterial internalization into nonphagocytic cells. The pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO) facilitates bacterial escape from the internalization vesicle into the cytoplasm, where bacteria divide and undergo cell-to-cell spreading via actin-based motility. In the present study we demonstrate that in addition to InlA and InlB, LLO is required for efficient internalization of L. monocytogenes into human hepatocytes (HepG2). Surprisingly, LLO is an invasion factor sufficient to induce the internalization of noninvasive Listeria innocua or polystyrene beads into host cells in a dose-dependent fashion and at the concentrations produced by L. monocytogenes. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying LLO-induced bacterial entry, we constructed novel LLO derivatives locked at different stages of the toxin assembly on host membranes. We found that LLO-induced bacterial or bead entry only occurs upon LLO pore formation. Scanning electron and fluorescence microscopy studies show that LLO-coated beads stimulate the formation of membrane extensions that ingest the beads into an early endosomal compartment. This LLO-induced internalization pathway is dynamin-and F-actin-dependent, and clathrin-independent. Interestingly, further linking pore formation to bacteria/bead uptake, LLO induces F-actin polymerization in a tyrosine kinase-and pore-dependent fashion. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that a bacterial pathogen perforates the host cell plasma membrane as a strategy to activate the endocytic machinery and gain entry into the host cell

Structural differences between yeast and mammalian microtubules revealed by cryo-EM

Microtubules are polymers of αβ-tubulin heterodimers essential for all eukaryotes. Despite sequence conservation, there are significant structural differences between microtubules assembled in vitro from mammalian or budding yeast tubulin. Yeast MTs were not observed to undergo compaction at the interdimer interface as seen for mammalian microtubules upon GTP hydrolysis. Lack of compaction might reflect slower GTP hydrolysis or a different degree of allosteric coupling in the lattice. The microtubule plus end-tracking protein Bim1 binds yeast microtubules both between αβ-tubulin heterodimers, as seen for other organisms, and within tubulin dimers, but binds mammalian tubulin only at interdimer contacts. At the concentrations used in cryo-electron microscopy, Bim1 causes the compaction of yeast microtubules and induces their rapid disassembly. Our studies demonstrate structural differences between yeast and mammalian microtubules that likely underlie their differing polymerization dynamics. These differences may reflect adaptations to the demands of different cell size or range of physiological growth temperatures