AUTHOR=Koller Barbara , Schramm Christin , Siebert Susann , Triebel János , Deland Eric , Pfefferkorn Anna M. , Rickerts Volker , Thewes Sascha 

TITLE=Dictyostelium discoideum as a Novel Host System to Study the Interaction between Phagocytes and Yeasts

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01665

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2016.01665

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The social amoeba <italic>Dictyostelium discoideum</italic> is a well-established model organism to study the interaction between bacteria and phagocytes. In contrast, research using <italic>D. discoideum</italic> as a host model for fungi is rare. We describe a comprehensive study, which uses <italic>D. discoideum</italic> as a host model system to investigate the interaction with apathogenic (<italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic>) and pathogenic (<italic>Candida</italic> sp.) yeast. We show that <italic>Dictyostelium</italic> can be co-cultivated with yeasts on solid media, offering a convenient test to study the interaction between fungi and phagocytes. We demonstrate that a number of <italic>D. discoideum</italic> mutants increase (<italic>atg1</italic><sup>−</sup>, <italic>kil1</italic><sup>−</sup>, <italic>kil2</italic><sup>−</sup>) or decrease (<italic>atg6</italic><sup>−</sup>) the ability of the amoebae to predate yeast cells. On the yeast side, growth characteristics, reduced phagocytosis rate, as well as known virulence factors of <italic>C. albicans</italic> (<italic>EFG1, CPH1, HGC1, ICL1</italic>) contribute to the resistance of yeast cells against predation by the amoebae. Investigating haploid <italic>C. albicans</italic> strains, we suggest using the amoebae plate test for screening purposes after random mutagenesis. Finally, we discuss the potential of our adapted amoebae plate test to use <italic>D. discoideum</italic> for risk assessment of yeast strains.</p>