Review
Pathogen–host interactions in Dictyostelium, Legionella, Mycobacterium and other pathogens

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2010.11.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Dictyostelium discoideum is a haploid social soil amoeba that is an established host model for several human pathogens. The research areas presently pursued include the use of D. discoideum to identify genetic host factors determining the outcome of infections and the use as screening system for identifying bacterial virulence factors. Here we report about the Legionella pneumophila directed phagosome biogenesis and the cell-to-cell spread of Mycobacterium species. Moreover, we highlight recent insights from the host–pathogen cross-talk between D. discoideum and the pathogens Salmonella typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Burkholderia cenocepacia, Vibrio cholerae and Neisseria meningitidis.

Introduction

Protozoa impose a tremendous selection pressure in the prokaryote world. As a result various bacteria developed strategies to escape or survive the attack of predatory protozoa. Moreover, some species evolved strategies to exploit host cell resources [1]. The intracellular niche within protozoa can provide microbes with nutrients and represents as shelter against unfavorable living conditions. Moreover, in some cases protozoa may serve as a vehicle for the colonization of new habitats. Since phagocytosis and endosomal trafficking are highly conserved throughout the evolution of eukaryotes, protozoa may be viewed as “ancient virulence school” for microbes which later developed into human pathogens. Accordingly, many cellular defense mechanisms active in animal immune phagocytes have been identified in protozoa. On the other hand, many of the bacterial virulence factors required for pathogenicity in mammals are equally important for pathogen survival during the interactions with protozoa [2]. For the study of some pathogens like Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium marinum the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has become a prime model organism, which in many aspects allows the extrapolation to human macrophages (Fig. 1). Meanwhile, the research was extended to numerous other pathogens [3], [4], [5], [6], [7].

Section snippets

Dictyostelium, an infection model for many reasons

The success of D. discoideum as model organism is due to its intrinsic biological features, but also to the remarkable experimental tools available. Unlike other protozoa, such as Acanthamoeba castellanii or Hartmannella vermiformis, D. discoideum is amenable to genetic manipulation. Accordingly, D. discoideum has long been regarded as model organism for the study of signal transduction, cytoskeletal functions and phagocytosis. However, since this model can be infected by various pathogens and

Legionella directed phagosome biogenesis

L. pneumophila is an environmental gram-negative bacterium that parasitizes within different protozoa species. Upon transmission to humans, which is by inhalation of contaminated aerosols, L. pneumophila causes a severe and life-threatening pneumonia [38]. Comparative experiments with several infection models including D. discoideum and human macrophages have shown that the modulation of diverse host cell functions is a prerequisite for biogenesis of the Legionella-specific replicative vacuole.

Conclusion and outlook

The D. discoideum model integrates complex activities of a multicellular organism in a single cell. It allows to test the susceptibility of a given host cell mutant to various bacterial pathogens with a high degree of reproducibility. On the other hand D. discoideum is remarkably effective for identifying novel bacterial virulence determinants. In this review we have highlighted several new proteins and genes which show that knowledge acquired through the study of the D. discoideum model

Acknowledgements

The author wish to thank Christina Nitzsche for critical reading of the manuscript. The work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

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