Unit of Microbial Pathogenesis
Head: Matthias P. Machner
We study the molecular mechanisms underlying intracellular survival and replication of the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Within infected cells L. pneumophila establishes a replication vacuole by exploiting host cell protein and vesicle transport processes. An essential aspect of intracellular bacterial survival is the delivery of a large repertoire of L. pneumophila effector proteins into the host cell. Our main goal is to determine the molecular function of these translocated effectors and to identify the host cell pathways modulated by these proteins.
