A Visual

So, last week, we did not dive into much detail about this microbe – Legionella pneumophila. It’s never any fun to read or learn about something when you have no clue what it looks like, so let’s discuss. Below, is a picture of the microbe, to start off.

Legionella pneumophila is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria that is relatively thin/small in size; only ranging from 2-20 micrometers (Winn WC Jr., 1996). Legionella posses both membranes, typical of Gram-negative bacteria. The inner membranes contain antigens such as peptidoglycan, proteins and lipopolysaccharides. The outer membrane (the envelope) contains majority enzymes (Shevchuk, Jäger, Steinert, 2011). This bacteria uses its envelope to provide structure, signaling, and interact with its surrounding environment (Shevchuk, Jäger, Steinert, 2011). Proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids serve structural roles in the bacterial envelope (Shevchuk, Jäger, Steinert, 2011). For purposes of locomotion, this bacteria has both pili and flagellum (Winn WC Jr., 1996). In the Legionella genus, there are 39 known species. 

Structurally, Legionella pneumophila is not very complex and also isn’t very different from other bacteria. Next time, we will dive a little deeper into how this bacteria works, but until then enjoy this short video giving another visual of Legionella pneumophila.

References:

Shevchuk, O., Jäger, J., & Steinert, M. (2011). Virulence properties of the legionella pneumophila cell envelope. Frontiers in microbiology, 2, 74. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2011.00074

Winn WC Jr. Legionella. In: Baron S, editor. Medical Microbiology. 4th edition. Galveston (TX): University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; 1996. Chapter 40. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7619/