Search

The pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular bacterium, which targets a large range of cell types. Following entry, bacteria disrupt the invasion vacuole and reach the cytoplasm where they replicate and use the actin cytoskeleton to propel themselves from cell to cell. Mammalian epithelial cells grown in vitro can be used to study the different steps of the intracellular life of Listeria. However, rapid multiplication and dissemination of bacteria can induce important cell death and detachment, resulting in the formation of lytic plaques. Thus, in vitro infections with L. monocytogenes are usually restricted to short time courses, from a few minutes to one day. Here, we present a method to study long-term L. monocytogenes infections in epithelial cells using epifluorescence microscopy. This protocol enables the observation of actin-based motility, intercellular dissemination foci, and entrapment of L. monocytogenes within vacuoles of persistence termed "Listeria-Containing Vacuoles" (LisCVs). We also describe a protocol to study the recruitment of cytoskeletal proteins at Listeria actin comet tails, as well as a method to assess the membrane integrity of intracellular bacteria using a LIVE/DEAD viability assay.

M. Graciela Pucciarelli,1∗ Helene Bierne, and Francisco Garcia-del Portillo1∗ 1Departamento de Biotecnologia Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Darwin 3, 28049 Madrid, Spain ∗e-mail: mgpuccia@cnb.uam.es, fgportillo@cnb.uam.es 2Unite des Interactions Bacteries-Cellules, Institut Pasteur, INSERM U604, INRA USC2020, 28 Rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris cedex 15, France e-mail: hbierne@pasteur.fr