An intracellular replication niche for Vibrio cholerae in the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii

Vibrio cholerae is a human pathogen and the causative agent of cholera. The persistence of this bacterium in aquatic environments is a key epidemiological concern, as cholera is transmitted through contaminated water. Predatory protists, such as amoebae, are major regulators of bacterial populations...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The ISME Journal 2016-04, Vol.10 (4), p.897-910
Main Authors: Van der Henst, Charles, Scrignari, Tiziana, Maclachlan, Catherine, Blokesch, Melanie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
14/19
14/35
631/326/1320
631/326/171/1878
Acanthamoeba castellanii
Acanthamoeba castellanii - cytology
Acanthamoeba castellanii - microbiology
Amoeba
Animals
Aquatic environment
Aquatic habitats
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cholera - microbiology
Ecology
Endosomes - microbiology
Evolutionary Biology
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Humans
Life Sciences
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbial Viability
Microbiology
Original
original-article
Pathogens
Vacuoles - microbiology
Vibrio cholerae
Vibrio cholerae - pathogenicity
Vibrio cholerae - physiology
Virulence
Water pollution
Waterborne diseases
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Vibrio cholerae is a human pathogen and the causative agent of cholera. The persistence of this bacterium in aquatic environments is a key epidemiological concern, as cholera is transmitted through contaminated water. Predatory protists, such as amoebae, are major regulators of bacterial populations in such environments. Therefore, we investigated the interaction between V. cholerae and the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii at the single-cell level. We observed that V. cholerae can resist intracellular killing. The non-digested bacteria were either released or, alternatively, established a replication niche within the contractile vacuole of A. castellanii. V. cholerae was maintained within this compartment even upon encystment. The pathogen ultimately returned to its aquatic habitat through lysis of A. castellanii , a process that was dependent on the production of extracellular polysaccharide by the pathogen. This study reinforces the concept that V. cholerae is a facultative intracellular bacterium and describes a new host–pathogen interaction.
ISSN:1751-7362
1751-7370
DOI:10.1038/ismej.2015.165