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Advances in Listeria Monocytogenes, Infectivity and Pathogenesis

Ciamak Ghazaei

Listeria monocytogenes is a food borne pathogen with the ability to exist and thrive in diverse environments. Its evolution from the food environment into the gastrointestinal tract initiates a development that could culminate in pervasive systemic infection. Listeria monocytogenes has over the years surfaced as an astoundingly tractable pathogen surpassing the fundamental aspects of intracellular pathogenesis, cell biology, and natural as well as acquired immunity. To facilitate its intracellular existence, Listeria monocytogenes has developed several mechanisms of exploiting the host processes thus multiplying and spreading from one cell to another without damaging the host cells. This paper will discuss the microbiological processes, molecular mechanisms and the molecular determinants of Listeria pathogenicity (virulence) and their mechanism of action. It will also look at the current knowledge on the pathophysiology of listeriosis, the cell biology and host cell responses to Listeria infection.An appreciation of the survival mechanisms of the pathogen in unfavorable environments is suitable to enlighten future designs of modern prophylactic approaches seeking to exploit particular pharmabiotics (i.e. prebiotics, probiotics, or phages).