Journal
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
Volume 78, Issue 1, Pages 125-137Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00719-09
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Funding
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [R01AI046414]
- CSREES/USDA [SC-1700312]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES [R01AI046414] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Entamoeba histolytica is an intestinal protozoan parasite that causes amoebic dysentery and liver abscess. Phagocytosis by the parasite is a critical virulence process, since it is a prerequisite for tissue invasion and establishment of chronic infection. While the roles of many of the proteins that regulate phagocytosis-related signaling events in E. histolytica have been characterized, the functions of lipids in this cellular process remain largely unknown in this parasite. In other systems, phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3), a major product of phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3-kinase) activity, is essential for phagocytosis. Pleckstrin homology (PH) domains are protein domains that specifically bind to PIP3. In this study, we utilized glutathione S-transferase (GST)- and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled PH domains as lipid biosensors to characterize the spatiotemporal aspects of PIP3 distribution during various endocytic processes in E. histolytica. PIP3-specific biosensors accumulated at extending pseudopodia and in phagosomal cups in trophozoites exposed to erythrocytes but did not localize to pinocytic compartments during the uptake of a fluid-phase marker, dextran. Our results suggest that PIP3 is involved in the early stages of phagosome formation in E. histolytica. In addition, we demonstrated that PIP3 exists at high steady-state levels in the plasma membrane of E. histolytica and that these levels, unlike those in mammalian cells, are not abolished by serum withdrawal. Finally, expression of a PH domain in trophozoites inhibited erythrophagocytosis and enhanced motility, providing genetic evidence supporting the role of PI3-kinase signaling in these processes in E. histolytica.
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