Fusarium pathogenesis investigated using Galleria mellonella as a heterologous host

Abstract

Members of the fungal genus Fusarium are capable of manifesting in a multitude of clinical infections, most commonly in immunocompromised patients. In order to better understand the interaction between the fungus and host, we have developed the larvae of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, as a heterologous host for fusaria. When conidia are injected into the hemocoel of this Lepidopteran system, both clinical and environmental isolates of the fungus are able to kill the larvae at 37°C, although killing occurs more rapidly when incubated at 30°C. This killing was dependent on several other factors besides temperature, including the Fusarium strain, the number of conidia injected, and the conidia morphology, where macroconidia are more virulent than their microconidia counterpart. There was a correlation in the killing rate of Fusarium spp. when evaluated in G. mellonella and a murine model. In vivo studies indicated G. mellonella hemocytes were capable of initially phagocytosing both conidial morphologies. The G. mellonella system was also used to evaluate antifungal agents, and amphotericin B was able to confer a significant increase in survival to Fusarium infected-larvae. The G. mellonella-Fusarium pathogenicity system revealed that virulence of Fusarium spp. is similar, regardless of the origin of the isolate, and that mammalian endothermy is a major deterrent for Fusarium infection and therefore provides a suitable alternative to mammalian models to investigate the interaction between the host and this increasingly important fungal pathogen.

Candida tropicalis Antifungal Cross-Resistance Is Related to Different Azole Target (Erg11p) Modifications

“…Finally, the number of larvae used and the ease of handling also represent important advantages. Previous studies have documented that G. mellonella is a valid model for the evaluation of microbial virulence and/or the efficacies of different antimicrobial agents in infections caused by different bacteria (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38) and fungi, such as Cryptococcus neoformans (34), Candida spp. (38), Fusarium spp.…”

“…(38), Fusarium spp. (35), and Aspergillus fumigatus (36). Recently, Mesa-Arango et al (37) demonstrated that C. tropicalis is able to infect and kill G. mellonella.…”

“…Among these, Galleria mellonella presents certain benefits in comparison with other nonmammalian models of infection (31). Previous studies have documented that G. mellonella is a valid model for the evaluation of microbial virulence and/or the efficacies of different antimicrobial agents against infections caused by different bacteria and fungi (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38).…”

First Detection of Nosema Ceranae and Nosema Apis in Greater Wax Moth Galleria Mellonella

“…The waxworms of the greater wax moth have been shown to be an excellent model organism for in vivo toxicology and pathogenicity testing, replacing the use of small mammals (Hu & Webster, 2010;Coleman et al, 2011;Harding et al, 2013). In addition to the use of the wax moth as a model organism for research on insect physiology, genomics and proteomics, they have an important role in the apicultural industry (Ellis, Graham, & Mortensen, 2013).…”

Comparison of virulence betweenParacoccidioides brasiliensisandParacoccidioides lutziiusingGalleria mellonellaas a host model

“…The study of the virulence of different fungi such as Cryptococcus neoformans, 30,31 Fusarium spp, 32 Candida spp, 33,34 Histoplasma capsulatum and P. lutzii.…”