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Differentiation in response to environmental cues is integral to the success of many intracellular pathogens. By characterizing a Legionella pneumophila mutant defective for differentiation in broth and replication in macrophages, we identified a subfamily of major facilitator superfamily transporters, here named Pht (phagosomal transporter), that also is conserved in two other vacuolar pathogens, Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis. Biolog phenotype microarray analysis indicated that PhtA transports threonine, an essential amino acid. Either excess threonine or threonine peptides bypass phtA function. In minimal medium, phtA mutants do not replicate; in rich broth, the bacteria prematurely differentiate to the transmissive phase, as judged by the kinetics of flaA-gfp expression, heat resistance, and sodium sensitivity. PhtA is dispensable for transmissive L. pneumophila to establish and persist within a replication vacuole but is essential for their differentiation to the replicative phase, based on phenotypic and RT-PCR analysis. Accordingly, we propose that the Pht transporter family equips transmissive L. pneumophila, C. burnetii, and F. tularensis to assess their phagosomal nutrient supply before committing to reenter the cell cycle.
Sauer et al. (Tue,) studied this question.