Food-borne Listeria infections: Zinc homeostasis at the host-pathogen interface

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The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes causes serious food-borne disease in man, with high mortality rates despite antibiotic intervention. The disease can range from stillbirth in infected women, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis. People with weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible to this disease. A feature of Listeria is its ability to survive a range of harsh conditions and grow at low temperatures routinely used to store food. In order for Listeria to grow, it must acquire the metal zinc. This is true not only during life in the environment, on food and food preparation surfaces, but also during infection of a host. This proposal aims to understand how Listeria acquires zinc especially in conditions inside the host where available zinc may be in short supply. We have already identified two zinc-uptake systems and shown that these are vital for Listeria to be able to survive when there is very little zinc available and also for it to be able to cause infections. Having discovered these systems, the next step is to gain a more detailed understanding of how each one contributes to obtaining zinc and their roles during Listeria infections. We will also seek to find other systems that are needed by Listeria to handle zinc. An important impact of understanding the mechanisms by which Listeria acquires zinc and controls its zinc levels will be the opportunity to exploit this knowledge to design new ways of combating Listeria infections and design new control strategies to reduce contamination of foods by Listeria.