About
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), produced by eukaryotes, bacteria and archaea are increasingly recognized as important mediators of intercellular communication via transfer of a wide variety of molecular cargoes. Recently EVs of several intracellular pathogens have been implicated in pathogenicity and communication. Legionella pneumophila is such an intracellular, bacterial pathogen that is responsible for Legionnaires’ disease, a severe pneumonia that can be fatal. To replicate inside cells and to cause disease this pathogen secretes over 300 protein effectors in the host cell. However, these bacteria also produce EVs implicated in virulence. We hypothesise that bacterial EVs traffic in eukaryotic host cells and deliver their content similar, as do eukaryotic EVs. The BioEV proposal aims to identify their role(s) in host-pathogen interaction and disease by deciphering the molecular mechanisms of the secretion and delivery of bacterial EVs in human cells during infection and the impact of Legionella pneumophila infection on hEVs. Furthermore, this project will provide insight into the function of EVs in cell-to-cell communication
and EV maturation and delivery.
Collaboration with the group of Gregory Lavieu, Université Paris Cité, , INSERM ERL U1316
