Chemotactic Responses of Acanthamoeba castellanii to Bacteria, Bacterial Components, and Chemotactic Peptides

Schuster, Frederick L.; Rahman, Mafuzur; Griffith, Sharon

doi:10.2307/3226781

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…A previous report has suggested that Acanthamoeba can chemotaxis to Pseudomonas aeruginosa with a chemotactic index of 1.6 in an under agar chemotaxis assay with substantially different parameters than our above agar assay (Schuster et al 1993). Our above agar assay with Acanthamoeba in the presence of P. aeruginosa produced a comparable chemotaxis index of 1.5 (Fig.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 52%

“…Cell movement is a critical feature to allow these cells to find locations where bacteria exist. Mechanisms of cell movement have been extensively studied in Dictyostelium discoideum but relatively little is known about the movement of Acanthamoeba castellanii (Schuster and Levandowsky 1996; Schuster et al 1993). Since both organisms can inhabit similar environments it is possible that they share similar foraging mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies have assayed Acanthamoeba movement toward a variety of different compounds and to bacteria (Schuster and Levandowsky 1996; Schuster et al 1993). The results of these studies suggest that Acanthamoeba have variable responses to bacteria and compounds such as cAMP and formylated peptides.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acanthamoeba and Dictyostelium Use Different Foraging Strategies

Kuburich

Adhikari

Hadwiger

2016

Protist

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Amoeba often use cell movement as a mechanism to find food, such as bacteria, in their environment. The chemotactic movement of the soil amoeba Dictyostelium to folate or other pterin compounds released by bacteria is a well-documented foraging mechanism. Acanthamoeba can also feed on bacteria but relatively little is known about the mechanism(s) by which this amoeba locates bacteria. Acanthamoeba movement in the presence of folate or bacteria was analyzed in above agar assays and compared to that observed for Dictyostelium. The overall mobility of Acanthamoeba was robust like that of Dictyostelium but Acanthamoeba did not display a chemotactic response to folate. In the presence of bacteria, Acanthamoeba only showed a marginal bias in directed movement whereas Dictyostelium displayed a strong chemotactic response. A comparison of genomes revealed that Acanthamoeba and Dictyostelium share some similarities in G protein signaling components but that specific G proteins used in Dictyostelium chemotactic responses were not present in current Acanthamoeba genome sequence data. The results of this study suggest that Acanthamoeba does not use chemotaxis as the primary mechanism to find bacterial food sources and that the chemotactic responses of Dictyostelium to bacteria may have co-evolved with chemotactic responses that facilitate multicellular development.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acanthamoeba and Dictyostelium Use Different Foraging Strategies

Kuburich

Adhikari

Hadwiger

2016

Protist

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“…Trophozoites of amoebae utilize various microorganisms, particularly gram-negative bacteria and yeasts, as nutrient sources (26,45,49,57). Castellani (16) was the first to report the growth of Acanthamoeba in the presence of Cryptococcus pararoseus and Bacillus spp.…”

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confidence: 99%

Phagocytosis Affects Biguanide Sensitivity of Acanthamoeba spp

Noble

Ahearn

Avery

et al. 2002

Antimicrob Agents Chemother

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The incidence of Acanthamoeba keratitis, a disease associated with contact lens wear, has been in apparent decline with the advent of multipurpose contact lens solutions. The concentrations of the biguanides chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) and particularly polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) included in multipurpose solutions (MPSs) are sublethal for amoebae. We evaluated by flow cytometry the effects of these two biguanides on phagocytosis of particles and the survival of trophozoites of Acanthamoeba castellanii and A. polyphaga. Trophozoites of A. castellanii and A. polyphaga (10 6 /ml) were exposed to solutions of 5 and 50 g of PHMB and CHX per ml in the presence and absence of particles (i.e., heat-killed yeasts and bacteria and latex beads). In addition, trophozoites were exposed to particles treated with these concentrations of the two biguanides. In the absence of particles, trophozoites of A. polyphaga appeared to be more resistant to the biguanides than those of A. castellanii. In the presence of particles, the rates of survival of both species were decreased. In most instances, particles treated with sublethal concentrations of both biguanides that were adsorbed onto the particles reduced the incidence of phagocytosis. Particles present in MPSs in contact lens cases may be involved in the decreased incidence of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

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“…In addition, heat-killed cells lack the ability to express any form of cell-to-cell signalling, which might be crucial in influencing protozoanÀprey interactions, as studies have shown that bacteria have the ability to signal both positively and negatively to eukaryotic cells (Thomas & Allsopp, 1983;Joint et al, 2000). Indeed, amoebae have shown both positive and negative chemotactic responses to bacterial prey (Singh, 1945;Seravin & Orlovskaja, 1977;Schuster et al, 1993;Bottone et al, 1994;Firtel & Chung, 2000;Weitere et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Hartmannella vermiformis on live, heat-killed and DTAF-stained bacterial prey

Pickup

Parry

2007

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

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The growth responses of two species of amoeba were evaluated in the presence of live, heat-killed and heat-killed/5-(4,6-dichlorotriazin-2-yl) aminofluorescein (DTAF)-stained cells of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella aerogenes, Klebsiella ozaenae and Staphylococcus aureus. The specific growth rates of both species were significantly higher with live bacterial prey, the only exception being Hartmannella vermiformis feeding on S. aureus, for which growth rates were equivalent on all prey states. There was no significant difference between growth rates, yield or ingestion rates of amoebae feeding on heat-killed or heat-killed/stained bacterial cells, suggesting that it was the heat-killing process that influenced the amoeba-bacteria interaction. Pretreatment of prey cells had a greater influence on amoebic processing of Gram-negative bacteria compared with the Gram-positive bacterium, which appeared to be as a result of the former cells being more difficult to digest and/or losing their ability to deter amoebic ingestion. These antipredatory mechanisms included microcolony formation in P. aeruginosa, toxin production in K. ozaenae, and the presence of an intact capsule in K. aerogenes. E. coli and S. aureus did not appear to possess an antipredator mechanism, although intact cells of the S. aureus were observed in faecal pellets, suggesting that any antipredatory mechanism was occurring at the digestion stage.

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Chemotactic Responses of Acanthamoeba castellanii to Bacteria, Bacterial Components, and Chemotactic Peptides

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Acanthamoeba and Dictyostelium Use Different Foraging Strategies

Acanthamoeba and Dictyostelium Use Different Foraging Strategies

Phagocytosis Affects Biguanide Sensitivity of Acanthamoeba spp

Growth of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Hartmannella vermiformis on live, heat-killed and DTAF-stained bacterial prey

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