Effect of AL072, a novel anti-Legionella antibiotic, on growth and cell morphology of Legionella pneumophila

Abstract

AL072 is a potent anti-Legionella antibiotic produced by Streptomyces strain AL91. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AL072 against Legionella pneumophila was 0.2 mu g/ml. Bacterial growth was rapidly inhibited at the dose range between the MIC and 20 times of the MIC when the antibiotic was added at the mid-exponential phase. Ultrastructural changes in L. pneumophila were observed upon treatment with AL072. Under electron microscopical observation, the organisms treated with AL072 exhibited characteristic morphological changes in the cellular outer coat. Also irregular morphological changes, such as the formation of filamentous materials in the cytoplasm, an increase in the size and number of cytoplasmic vacuoles, the extruding of cytoplasmic contents, the formation of spheroplast and ghost cells, and blebbings in the cell wall were observed. Furthermore, immunoelectron microscopical observation of the group treated with the MIC showed that the immune complex attached mainly to the cell wall. The results of these experiments indicate that AL072, like the inhibitors of cell wall synthesis, act selectively on the cell wall of L. pneumophila.