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Volume 172, Issue 3

Mucin stimulates the growth of Open Access

Abstract

Previously, it was demonstrated that a chitinase (ChiA) secreted by the type II secretion system (T2SS) degrades mucin, thereby facilitating bacterial movement through a mucin layer. Here, we discovered that the addition of mucin to a chemically defined medium (CDM) greatly stimulates the growth of , indicating that the bacterium can very effectively utilize mucin as a food source. This growth-stimulatory effect was evident in broth and agar media and for all WT strains tested. Remarkably, the growth of on mucin-containing CDM agar rivalled the growth of the bacterium on buffered charcoal yeast extract (BCYE) agar, the standard medium used for cultivating legionellae. A mutant lacking the T2SS was majorly impaired for growth in mucin-containing CDM, suggesting that exoenzymes are needed for mucin assimilation. In support of this hypothesis, mutants lacking either ChiA or the secreted protease ProA were also impaired for growth in the presence of added mucin. Finally, we observed that , but not a mutant lacking secreted surfactant, exhibits a marked spreading phenotype (i.e. sliding motility) when grown on CDM agar vs. BCYE agar. However, WT bacteria grown on CDM agar containing mucin did not show this spreading, suggesting that sliding motility is induced under low-nutrient conditions but repressed by mucin byproducts. Taken together, these results provide new insight into the versatility of physiology and suggest that may grow well in extracellular spaces in the lungs that contain mucin.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): chitinase , Legionella pneumophila , mucin , mucinase , protease , sliding motility and type II secretion system (T2SS)
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Award AI175460)
    • Principal Award Recipient: NicholasP Cianciotto
© 2026 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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Mucin stimulates the growth of Legionella pneumophila
Microbiology 172, 001682 (2026); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001682
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001682
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001682
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