Dictyostelium discoideumas a Novel Host System to Study the Interaction between Phagocytes and Yeasts.
The social amoebaDictyostelium discoideumis a well-established model organism to study the interaction between bacteria and phagocytes. In contrast, research usingD. discoideumas a host model for fungi is rare. We describe a comprehensive study, which usesD. discoideumas a host model system to investigate the interaction with apathogenic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and pathogenic (Candidasp.) yeast. We show thatDictyosteliumcan be co-cultivated with yeasts on solid media, offering a convenient test to study the interaction between fungi and phagocytes. We demonstrate that a number ofD. discoideummutants increase (atg1-,kil1-,kil2-) or decrease (atg6-) the ability of the amoebae to predate yeast cells. On the yeast side, growth characteristics, reduced phagocytosis rate, as well as known virulence factors ofC. albicans(EFG1, CPH1, HGC1, ICL1) contribute to the resistance of yeast cells against predation by the amoebae. Investigating haploidC. albicansstrains, we suggest using the amoebae plate test for screening purposes after random mutagenesis. Finally, we discuss the potential of our adapted amoebae plate test to useD. discoideumfor risk assessment of yeast strains.
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Barbara
B
Koller
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität BerlinBerlin, Germany; FG16, Robert Koch InstituteBerlin, Germany.
Christin
C
Schramm
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Susann
S
Siebert
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
János
J
Triebel
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Eric
E
Deland
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Anna M
AM
Pfefferkorn
FG16, Robert Koch Institute Berlin, Germany.
Volker
V
Rickerts
Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Biology - Microbiology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Sascha
S
Thewes
Candida; Saccharomyces; amoebae; autophagy; host-pathogen interaction; phagocytosis; virulence