Can someone please explain the whole life cycle of listeria Mococytogenes? Solution Morphology and culturing. The small Gram-positive rods feature peritrichous flagellation. They show greater motility at 20 8C than at 37 8C. Culturing is most successful under aerobic conditions on blood agar. Following incubation for 18 hours, small gray colonies surrounded by inconspicuous hemolytic zones appear. The zones are caused by listeriolysin O. listeriae can also reproduce at 5–10oC, which fact can be used in their selective enrichment (“cold enrichment”). Adherence. To phagocytic cells (e.g., macrophages) and nonphagocytic cells (e.g., enterocytes). Invasion. Endocytosis, induced by the protein internalin on the surface of the listeriae. Formation of the endosome. Destruction of the endosome. The virulence factor listeriolysin forms pores in the endosomal membrane, releasing the listeriae into the cytoplasm. Replication of the listeriae in the cytoplasm of infected cells. Local intercellular dissemination. Polymerization of the actin of infected cells at one pole of the listeriae to form so-called actin tails that move the listeriae toward the membrane. Formation of long membrane protuberances (known as listeriopods) containing listeriae. Neighboring cells engulf the listeriopods, whereupon the process of listeria release by means of endosome destruction is repeated. Dissemination is generally by means of hematogenous spread..