The Ensminger Lab identify first virus to infect Legionella, revealing evolutionary origins of Legionnaires' disease
Research Highlights
Betty Zou
From left: Elizabeth Chaney, Alexander Ensminger, Beth Nicholson and José Santé
Researchers from the Ensminger Lab have identified the first known virus that infects Legionella pneumophila, the bacterium responsible for Legionnaires’ disease.
The newly discovered phage, LME-1, can infiltrate Legionella cells and block their growth inside human immune cells.
The study, published in Science Advances, not only opens the possibility of using phages to control Legionella outbreaks but also reveals that the bacteria’s ability to resist phage infection may have inadvertently made it more capable of causing disease in humans.
