Transcriptome profilling of Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae str. RGA

Leptospira interrogans is the major causative agent of leptospirosis. Phagocytosis plays important roles in the innate immune responses to L. interrogans infection, and L. interrogans can evade the killing of phagocytes. However, little is known about the adaptation of L. interrogans during this process. To better understand the interaction of pathogenic Leptospira and host, we employed the complete transcriptome and proteome to analyze the responses of L. interrogans to macrophage cells. During this process, L. interrogans altered expressions of many genes involved in carbohydrate, energy, nucleotide, amino acid and lipid metabolism, membrane transport, signal transduction, transcription and translation, folding sorting and degradation, replication and repair, cell motility, outer membrane and extracellular proteins.