Penicillin Enrichment of Listeria monocytogenes pathogenicity mutants.

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Penicillin enrichment of Listeria

monocytogenes pathogenicity mutants

9906035

University of Warwick, Coventry,

Warwickshire

Penicillin Enrichment of Listeria monocytogenes pathogenicity mutants

Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular pathogen. This project aimed to produce strains that were defective for intracellular growth by mutagenising a culture with ultra violet light and nitrosoguanidine. Intracellular mutants were selected for using a method of ampicillin enrichment. Approximately 200 colonies survived the enrichment process but only four colonies were characterised. These putative mutants, as well as nine putative mutants isolated from a previous experiment, were used to infect a culture of the mouse fibroblast cell line, L2, to look for mutants that generate small plaques. Unfortunately this infection was unsuccessful, but the generation times of the putative mutants were calculated. One mutant had a slow generation time of 88.2 minutes, three had fast generation times of 43.8, 39.6 and 33.6 minutes. The rest had relatively normal generation times of 60 minutes.

INTRODUCTION

Listeria monocytogenes is a facultatively intracellular, gram positive, food-borne pathogen. Infection with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a relatively rare disease, which can be fatal to the fetus in pregnant women, or can present it self