Dictyostelium as host model for pathogenesis

Steinert, Michael; Heuner, Klaus

doi:10.1111/j.1462-5822.2005.00493.x

Cited by 126 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…If food bacteria associate with Burkholderia-colonized fruiting bodies, what excludes food bacteria from these developing structures in noncolonized clones? The bacterial pathogens Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium species replicate and spread intracellularly within D. discoideum host cells by subverting a variety of host functions (50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55). To our knowledge, susceptibility to secondary bacterial carriage has not been observed or specifically analyzed during D. discoideum infections with these bacterial pathogens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Burkholderia bacteria infectiously induce the proto-farming symbiosis of Dictyostelium amoebae and food bacteria

DiSalvo

Haselkorn

Bashir

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

106

239

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Symbiotic associations can allow an organism to acquire novel traits by accessing the genetic repertoire of its partner. In the Dictyostelium discoideum farming symbiosis, certain amoebas (termed “farmers”) stably associate with bacterial partners. Farmers can suffer a reproductive cost but also gain beneficial capabilities, such as carriage of bacterial food (proto-farming) and defense against competitors. Farming status previously has been attributed to amoeba genotype, but the role of bacterial partners in its induction has not been examined. Here, we explore the role of bacterial associates in the initiation, maintenance, and phenotypic effects of the farming symbiosis. We demonstrate that two clades of farmer-associated Burkholderia isolates colonize D. discoideum nonfarmers and infectiously endow them with farmer-like characteristics, indicating that Burkholderia symbionts are a major driver of the farming phenomenon. Under food-rich conditions, Burkholderia-colonized amoebas produce fewer spores than uncolonized counterparts, with the severity of this reduction being dependent on the Burkholderia colonizer. However, the induction of food carriage by Burkholderia colonization may be considered a conditionally adaptive trait because it can confer an advantage to the amoeba host when grown in food-limiting conditions. We observed Burkholderia inside and outside colonized D. discoideum spores after fruiting body formation; this observation, together with the ability of Burkholderia to colonize new amoebas, suggests a mixed mode of symbiont transmission. These results change our understanding of the D. discoideum farming symbiosis by establishing that the bacterial partner, Burkholderia, is an important causative agent of the farming phenomenon.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Burkholderia bacteria infectiously induce the proto-farming symbiosis of Dictyostelium amoebae and food bacteria

DiSalvo

Haselkorn

Bashir

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

106

239

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“…This is now a major field of research that is comprehensively reviewed elsewhere (Steinert and Heuner 2005;Bozzaro et al 2008;Bruhn and Steinert 2008;Cosson and Soldati 2008;Clarke 2010) so I will give only an overview. Dictyostelium is susceptible to Legionella infection, LCVs are formed, and some Legionella mutant strains that are avirulent for humans are avirulent for Dictyostelium (Solomon et al 2000).…”

Section: Dictyostelium In Biomedical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dictyostelium Finds New Roles to Model

Williams

2010

Genetics

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Any established or aspiring model organism must justify itself using two criteria: does the model organism offer experimental advantages not offered by competing systems? And will any discoveries made using the model be of wider relevance? This review addresses these issues for the social amoeba Dictyostelium and highlights some of the organisms more recent applications. These cover a remarkably wide gamut, ranging from sociobiological to medical research with much else in between.

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“…The use of D. discoideum as a model system has many advantages. D. discoideum is already an extensively studied protozoan in developmental biology due to its unusual life cycle that sees it switch from a unicellular grazer to a multicellular slug upon starvation ( 43 ) and has been used as a model in other areas, including the study of mitochondrial and neurological diseases ( 44,45 ), pathogen-host interactions ( 46 ), and chemotaxis ( 47 ). Due to its well-characterized nature, genetic and biochemical techniques in D. discoideum are already well developed, including gene knockout by homologous recombination, RNAi-mediated knockdowns, and genetic overexpression ( 48 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%