Protein @entity19641 encoded by the @entity37788 gene is regarded as an essential gene product of @entity5125 . Here we report, however, the successful construction of a viable @entity37788 deletion mutant of @entity5125 EGD. The mutant, which produces no @entity19641 , shows abnormal septum formation and tends to form short filaments and hooked forms during logarithmic growth. These abnormal bacterial cells break into almost normal sized single bacteria in the late-stationary-growth phase. The @entity37788 mutant is strongly attenuated in a @entity19 model after intravenous injection, demonstrating the importance of @entity19641 during infection, and the invasiveness of the Deltaiap mutant for 3T6 fibroblasts and Caco-2 epithelial cells is slightly reduced. Upon uptake by epithelial cells and macrophages, the @entity37788 mutant escapes from the phagosome into the cytosol with the same efficiency as the wild-type strain, and the mutant bacteria also grow intracellularly at a rate similar to that of the wild-type strain. Intracellular movement and cell-to-cell spread are drastically reduced in various cell lines, since the @entity37788 -negative bacteria fail to induce the formation of actin tails. However, the bacteria are covered with actin filaments. Most intracellular bacteria show a nonpolar and uneven distribution of ActA around the cell, in contrast to that for the wild-type strain, where ActA is concentrated at the old pole. In an @entity37788 (+) revertant strain that produces wild-type levels of @entity19641 , intracellular movement, cell-to-cell spread, and polar distribution of ActA are fully restored. In vitro analysis of ActA distribution on the filaments of the Deltaiap strain shows that the loss of bacterial septum formation leads to ActA accumulation at the presumed division sites. In the light of data presented here and elswhere, we propose to rename @entity37788 (invasion-associated protein) cwhA (cell wall hydrolase A).

Deletion of the gene encoding @entity19641 in XXXX leads to abnormal cell division and loss of actin-based motility.

@entity37788 :: ('15601(Tax:10090)', 'Gene') :: ['iap'] @entity19 :: ('10090', 'Species') :: ['mouse'] @entity19641 :: ('109679(Tax:10090)', 'Gene') :: ['p60'] @entity5125 :: ('1639', 'Species') :: ['Listeria monocytogenes', 'L. monocytogenes']
@entity5125 :: (1639,Species) :: ['Listeria monocytogenes']
