clpP homologue is required for normal cell division of L. pneumophila During stress tolerance assays, LpΔclpP generally exhibited 1.5- to 3-fold lower colony formation efficiency compared with WT JR32 on BCYE plates (data not shown). However, all three L. pneumophila strains appeared to have similar growth rates at 37°C, 30°C and 25°C (Figure

2A to 2C), thus excluding significant reduction selleckchem in the number of living LpΔclpP cells. Previously, ablation of Clp protease activity has been shown to lead to abnormal cell wall formation or incomplete cell division in several Gram-positive bacteria [32]. To examine the morphology of LpΔclpP mutant cells under normal conditions, we performed cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cyro-TEM). Cells in stationary phase were frozen-hydrated by liquid nitrogen and directly observed at -172°C, and we found that LpΔclpP cell surface was surprisingly indistinguishable https://www.selleckchem.com/products/17-DMAG,Hydrochloride-Salt.html from that of the WT cells (Figure 4A and 4B), contrary to our results obtained by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) (Figure 4D and 4E), indicating

that ClpP deficiency did not affect cell wall ACY-241 cost architecture under normal growth conditions. Figure 4 Electron microscopy of stationary-phase L. pneumophila cells revealed cell elongation and abnormal division in the Lp ΔclpP mutant. Cyro-TEM of (A) JR32, (B) LpΔclpP and (C) LpΔclpP-pclpP and SEM of (D) JR32 and (E) LpΔclpP were carried out. Bar for (A), (B) and (C), 0.2 μm; Bar for (D), 2.0 μm; Bar for (E), 1.0 μm. (F) The percentages of normal and abnormal cells under cyro-TEM in the three L. pneumophila strains. Shown are the averages and standard deviations of three independent counts and the number of cells for each count is about 120 (n = 120). The combined results of SEM and cyro-TEM showed that unlike the “”plump cocoid”" shape of the WT or complemented strains, stationary-phase cells deficient in clpP were elongated and incapable to

divide normally (Figure 4A to 4E). Furthermore, around 62% of LpΔclpP cells were twins, 23% were hyper-filamentous, and Demeclocycline only 15% of cells were single (Figure 4F). In contrast, around 8% of WT JR32 cells were hyper-filamentous, and approximately 11% of cells were “”twins”" (Figure 4F). The abnormal cell morphology was also reversed by complementation (Figure 4C and 4F). These results together suggest that deletion of clpP lead to abnormal cell division and consequently aberrant cell morphology in L. pneumophila. The LpΔclpP mutant is sodium tolerant Stationary-phase L. pneumophila cells have been shown to exhibit sodium sensitivity [42, 43]. It has been proposed that the assembly of virulence factor translocation apparatus, such as the Dot/Icm T4SS complex, allows high levels of sodium to diffuse into the cytoplasm, which is lethal to the cells [44]. To investigate whether ClpP homologue also affected sodium sensitivity of L.