The gram-positive, facultative intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes belongs to one of four severe food-borne pathogens issued by WHO. It is not only a causal agent of listeriosis caused infection of humans and animals, but also an important model system for the study of intracellular pathogens. Most of well-known listerial virulence genes are regulated by PrfA. The LM virulence genes involved in the infectious process and the PrfA-dependent virulence genes expression as well as putative regulative mechanisms were introduced and analyzed in this paper.
