{"entity": "researcher", "timestamp": "2026-08-20T20:40:51.739Z", "family": "Paranjape", "given": "Kiran", "initials": "K", "orcid": "0000-0002-3932-4083", "affiliations": ["Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, 75237 Uppsala, Sweden."], "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/fd029109ba544a3eb9320946c17d686d.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/fd029109ba544a3eb9320946c17d686d"}}, "publications": [{"entity": "publication", "iuid": "26993abcfcec4b259e07be0d43bb737b", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/26993abcfcec4b259e07be0d43bb737b.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/26993abcfcec4b259e07be0d43bb737b"}}, "title": "Host-Specific Adaptation of Legionella pneumophila to Single and Multiple Hosts.", "authors": [{"family": "Moreno", "given": "Ana\u00edsa B", "initials": "AB", "orcid": "0000-0002-3229-4029", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/22821af48ff64059b3fa92e8acacd0c9.json"}}, {"family": "Paranjape", "given": "Kiran", "initials": "K", "orcid": "0000-0002-3932-4083", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/fd029109ba544a3eb9320946c17d686d.json"}}, {"family": "Cederblom", "given": "Martina", "initials": "M", "orcid": "0009-0007-7339-2796", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/cb7c9a8d19434661a2b42e48fd93f1ea.json"}}, {"family": "Kay", "given": "Elisabeth", "initials": "E", "orcid": "0000-0002-8763-7076", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8b9c4d79afba4a8d8decca8e81f65c7b.json"}}, {"family": "Dobre-Lereanu", "given": "Christian", "initials": "C"}, {"family": "Andersson", "given": "Dan I", "initials": "DI", "orcid": "0000-0001-6640-2174", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f6dfd353332a4a5c906d28be61dece6f.json"}}, {"family": "Guy", "given": "Lionel", "initials": "L", "orcid": "0000-0001-8354-2398", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/93e170c891c742838951a1fc8b50d223.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2025-07-30", "journal": {"title": "Mol. Biol. Evol.", "issn": "1537-1719", "volume": "42", "issue": "8", "issn-l": "0737-4038"}, "abstract": "Legionella pneumophila is an endosymbiotic bacterial species able to infect and reproduce in various protist and human hosts. Upon entry into human lungs, they may infect lung macrophages, causing Legionnaires' disease (LD), an atypical pneumonia, using similar mechanisms as in their protozoan hosts, despite the 2 hosts being separated by a billion years of evolution. In this study, we used experimental evolution to identify genes conferring host specificity to L. pneumophila. To this end, we passaged L. pneumophila in 2 different hosts-Acanthamoeba castellanii and the human macrophage-like cells U937-separately and by switching between the hosts twice a week for a year. In total, we identified 1,518 mutations present in at least 5% of the population at the time of sampling. Forty-nine mutations were fixed in the 18 populations at the end of the experiment. Two interesting groups of mutations included (i) mutations in 4 different strain-specific genes involved in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synthesis, found only in the lineages passaged with A. castellanii and (ii) mutations in the gene coding for LerC, a key regulator of protein effector expression, which was independently mutated in 6 lineages grown in presence of the macrophage cells. We propose that the mutations degrading the function of the regulator LerC improve the fitness of L. pneumophila in human-derived cells and that modifications in the LPS are beneficial for growth in A. castellanii. This study is a first step in further investigating determinants of host specificity in L. pneumophila.", "doi": "10.1093/molbev/msaf161", "pmid": "40609045", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC12308824"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "8185572"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T09:42:41.354Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T09:42:41.544Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "69933b1b32f94005ae19b8d1f0d28a6c", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/69933b1b32f94005ae19b8d1f0d28a6c.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/69933b1b32f94005ae19b8d1f0d28a6c"}}, "title": "Host-specific adaptation of Legionella pneumophila to single and multiple hosts", "authors": [{"family": "Moreno", "given": "Ana\u00edsa B", "initials": "AB", "orcid": "0000-0002-3229-4029", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/22821af48ff64059b3fa92e8acacd0c9.json"}}, {"family": "Paranjape", "given": "Kiran", "initials": "K", "orcid": "0000-0002-3932-4083", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/fd029109ba544a3eb9320946c17d686d.json"}}, {"family": "Cederblom", "given": "Martina", "initials": "M"}, {"family": "Kay", "given": "Elisabeth", "initials": "E", "orcid": "0000-0002-8763-7076", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8b9c4d79afba4a8d8decca8e81f65c7b.json"}}, {"family": "Dobre-Lereanu", "given": "Christian", "initials": "C"}, {"family": "Andersson", "given": "Dan I", "initials": "DI", "orcid": "0000-0001-6640-2174", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f6dfd353332a4a5c906d28be61dece6f.json"}}, {"family": "Guy", "given": "Lionel", "initials": "L", "orcid": "0000-0001-8354-2398", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/93e170c891c742838951a1fc8b50d223.json"}}], "type": "posted-content", "published": "2024-11-18", "journal": {"issn-l": null}, "abstract": null, "doi": "10.1101/2024.11.18.624128", "pmid": null, "labels": [], "xrefs": [], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T10:59:15.448Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T10:59:15.517Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "8af3e4b1ced746fdbffcbcc7f0df5585", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/8af3e4b1ced746fdbffcbcc7f0df5585.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/8af3e4b1ced746fdbffcbcc7f0df5585"}}, "title": "Host-bacteria interactions: ecological and evolutionary insights from ancient, professional endosymbionts.", "authors": [{"family": "Bontemps", "given": "Z\u00e9lia", "initials": "Z", "orcid": "0009-0002-6785-9197", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/9e01df7c0237412198d3fecceeead90a.json"}}, {"family": "Paranjape", "given": "Kiran", "initials": "K", "orcid": "0000-0002-3932-4083", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/fd029109ba544a3eb9320946c17d686d.json"}}, {"family": "Guy", "given": "Lionel", "initials": "L", "orcid": "0000-0001-8354-2398", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/93e170c891c742838951a1fc8b50d223.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2024-06-20", "journal": {"title": "FEMS Microbiol Rev", "issn": "1574-6976", "volume": "48", "issue": "4", "issn-l": null}, "abstract": "Interactions between eukaryotic hosts and their bacterial symbionts drive key ecological and evolutionary processes, from regulating ecosystems to the evolution of complex molecular machines and processes. Over time, endosymbionts generally evolve reduced genomes, and their relationship with their host tends to stabilize. However, host-bacteria relationships may be heavily influenced by environmental changes. Here, we review these effects on one of the most ancient and diverse endosymbiotic groups, formed by-among others-Legionellales, Francisellaceae, and Piscirickettsiaceae. This group is referred to as Deep-branching Intracellular Gammaproteobacteria (DIG), whose last common ancestor presumably emerged about 2 Ga ago. We show that DIGs are globally distributed, but generally at very low abundance, and are mainly identified in aquatic biomes. Most DIGs harbour a type IVB secretion system, critical for host-adaptation, but its structure and composition vary. Finally, we review the different types of microbial interactions that can occur in diverse environments, with direct or indirect effects on DIG populations. The increased use of omics technologies on environmental samples will allow a better understanding of host-bacterial interactions and help unravel the definition of DIGs as a group from an ecological, molecular, and evolutionary perspective.", "doi": "10.1093/femsre/fuae021", "pmid": "39081075", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC11338181"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "7724391"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T09:41:06.737Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T09:41:06.907Z"}]}