Defined Minimal Growth Medium for Acanthamoeba polyphaga

Abstract

Nutritional requirements of Acanthamoeba polyphaga (strain PD) were compared to those reported for A. castellanii. Although A. polyphaga and A. castellanii have essentially the same minimal amino acid requirements--arginine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine--A. polyphaga cannot utilize acetate as sole carbon source, but A. castellanii can if the medium is supplemented with glycine.

Evolution of the Arsenal of Legionella pneumophila Effectors To Modulate Protist Hosts

“… Acanthamoeba , one of the most prevalent environmental hosts for Legionella , is auxotrophic for arginine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, and valine ( Fig. 1 ) ( 48 ). Humans are auxotrophic for histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine ( 49 ).…”

Exploitation of evolutionarily conserved amoeba and mammalian processes by Legionella

“…Interestingly, cysteine and serine are non-essential amino acids for Acanthamoeba or human cells. In addition, Legionella is auxotrophic for Arg, Cys, Ile, Leu, Met, Val and Thr, which include all the amino acids that Acanthamoeba is auxotrophic for (Arg, Ile, Leu, Met and Val) [56]. With the exception of Cys, human cells are auxotrophic for all the amino acids that Legionella is auxotrophic for, but Cys is relatively scarce in human cells.…”