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Unit 11: Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Legionella

Head:
Antje Flieger
Deputy:
Angelika Fruth

The unit of Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Legionella (unit 11) analyzes important food- and water-borne human pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Shigella spp., and the lung pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Salmonella, intestinal pathogenic E. coli, Listeria and Legionella are of special interest. Expertise with respect to taxonomy and epidemiology is also provided for other Enterobacteriaceae.

At the unit of Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Legionella laboratory-based epidemiological surveillance of relevant microbial agents of gastroenteritis is performed. Further, pathogen change and evolution, new occurrence and disappearance of epidemic clones, as well as development of antibiotic resistance are analyzed by means of classical and molecular tools. In addition, virulence and persistence strategies are studied.

The National Reference Centre for Salmonella and other Bacterial Enterics is embedded within unit 11. It provides information for the German public health service (ÖGD) and medical doctors on the above mentioned pathogens including their diagnostics and support for epidemioilogical analyses of respective infections.

Tasks

  • Laboratory-based surveillance of food-borne bacterial intestinal pathogens with emphasis on Salmonella and EHEC
  • Laboratory-based epidemiological investigations of epidemics, expert statements and opinions in cooperation with other Public Health authorities to support on request other Public Health authorities in outbreak investigations and the elucidation of infection routes and sources
  • Pathogen subtyping by means of classical and molecular methods
  • Analysis of pathogen properties and identification of indicators for improved pathogen diagnostics.
  • Analysis of antibiotic resistance properties of selected pathogens
  • Analysis of pathogenicity and virulence strategies of selected bacterial pathogens, especially characterization of virulence gene profiles and secreted proteins
  • Analysis of persistence strategies of selected bacterial pathogens including analysis of the viable but non-culturable state and the ability to colonize environmental amoeba

Projects

  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) consortium "Food-borne human zoonotic infections" (FBI-Zoo)
  • BMBF consortium "Profiling Pathogen-host interactomes coordinating Legionella survival strategies" (LegioProTect)
  • Virulence mechanisms analysis of the lung pathogen Legionella pneumophila including projects funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
  • Molecular virulence mechanisms of Listeria monocytogenes including projects funded by DFG and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
  • Molecular analysis of pathogen persistence including the viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state in Salmonella, EHEC, and Legionella including projects funded by BMBF
  • Participation in the intensified Listeria monocytogenes surveillance, project: molecular epidemiological investigation of L. monocytogenes isolates from human infections
  • Contact Point of the Food- and Water-borne Diseases (FWD) commission of the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)
  • Network for diagnostics of enteric infections

Further information

Selected Publications

  • Aurass P, Schlegel M, Metwally O, Harding CR, Schroeder GN, Frankel G, Flieger A (2013): The Legionella pneumophila Dot/Icm-secreted effector PlcC/CegC1 together with PlcA and PlcB promotes virulence and belongs to a novel zinc metallophospholipase C family present in bacteria and fungi.
    J. Biol. Chem. 288 (16): 11080-11092. Epub Mar 1. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.426049.more

  • Münch S, Wernery U, Kinne J, Joseph M, Braun PG, Pees M, Flieger A, Fruth A, Rabsch W (2013): Comparing the presence of different genes in Salmonella subspecies I-IV and development of a diagnostic multiplex PCR method for identification of Salmonella subspecies.
    Berl. Munch. Tierarztl. Wochenschr. 126 (1–2): 16–24. doi: 10.2376/0005-9366-126-16.more

  • Lang C, Rastew E, Hermes B, Siegbrecht E, Ahrends R, Banerji S, Flieger A (2012): Zinc metalloproteinase ProA directly activates Legionella pneumophila PlaC glycerophospholipid: cholesterol acyltransferase.
    J. Biol. Chem. 287 (28): 23464-23478. Epub May 11. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.346387.more

  • Abu Sin M, Takla A, Flieger A, Prager R, Fruth A, Tietze E, Fink E, Korte J, Schink S, Höhle M, Eckmanns T (2012): Carrier prevalence, secondary household transmission and long-term shedding in two districts during the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany, 2011.
    J. Infect. Dis.: Epub Nov 21. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jis702.more

  • Achtman M, Wain J, Weill FX et al.; S. Enterica MLST Study Group (for Germany: Rabsch W) (2012): Multilocus sequence typing as a replacement for serotyping in Salmonella enterica.
    PLoS Pathog. 8 (6): e1002776. Epub Jun 21. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002776.more

  • Flieger A, Mielke M, Tietze E (2013): Rolle der Erregersurveillance und -subtypisierung zur Ausbrucherkennung bei lebensmittelbedingten bakteriellen Infektionen – Sicht der Mikrobiologie – Ziele, Methoden und Perspektiven der Erregersubtypisierung.
    Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 56 (1): 42–46. Epub 2012 Dec 19. doi: 10.1007/s00103-012-1592-2.more

  • Grad YH, Lipsitch M, Griggs AD, Haas BJ, Shea TP, McCowan C, Montmayeur A, FitzGerald M, Wortman JR, Krogfelt KA, Bingen E, Weill FX, Tietze E, Flieger A et al. (2012): Reply to Guy et al.: Support for a bottleneck in the 2011 Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany.
    PNAS 109 (52): E3629–E3630. Epub Dec 17. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1209419110.

  • Halbedel S, Hahn B, Daniel RA, Flieger A (2012): DivIVA affects secretion of virulence-related autolysins in Listeria monocytogenes.
    Mol. Microbiol. 83 (4): 821-839. Epub Jan 18. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2012.07969.x.more

  • Hauser E, Tietze E, Helmuth R, Junker E, Prager R, Schroeter A, Rabsch W, Fruth A et al. (2012): Clonal Dissemination of Salmonella enterica Serovar Infantis in Germany.
    Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 9 (4): 352–360. doi:10.1089/fpd.2011.1038.more

  • Kaval KG, Halbedel S (2012): Architecturally the same, but playing a different game: The diverse species-specific roles of DivIVA proteins.
    Virulence 3 (4): Epub Jul 1.more

  • Toboldt A, Tietze E, Helmuth R, Fruth A et al. (2012): Human Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi B (dT+) infections in Germany originate from reptiles and rarely from poultry.
    Appl. Environ. Microbiol.: Epub Aug 10. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01732-12.more

  • Zhang W, Bielaszewska M, Bauwens A, Fruth A et al. (2012): Real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction for detecting Shiga toxin 2-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 in human stools.
    J. Clin. Microbiol. 50 (5): 1752-1754. Epub Feb 15. doi: 10.1128/JCM.06817-11.more

Date: 22.04.2013

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