Autophagy as an innate immunity response against pathogens: a Tango dance

A bacterium and an autophagosome illustrated as dancing aTango. This dance mirrors how autophagy and intracellular pathogens interact. (A) In specific instances, the autophagosome closely interacts with the partner, embracing the bacterium for engulfment and subsequent delivery into lysosomes for degradation. (B) In other cases, the bacterium responds and escapes from (avoid) the leader partner. These illustrations were created by Dr. Diego Croci, Group Leader at IHEM, CONICET, Argentina. Intracellular infections as well as changes in the cell nutritional environment are main events that trigger cellular stress responses. One crucial cell response to stress conditions is autophagy. During the last 30  years, several scenarios involving autophagy induction or inhibition over the course of an intracellular invasion by pathogens have been uncovered. In this review, we will present how this knowledge was gained by studying different microorganisms. We intend to discuss how the cell, via autophagy, tries to repel these attacks with the objective of destroying the intruder, but also how some pathogens have developed strategies to subvert this. These two fates can be compared with aTango, a dance originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which the partner dancers are in close connection. One of them is the leader, embracing and involving the partner, but the follower may respond escaping from the leader. This joint dance is indeed highly synchronized and controlled, perfectly refl...
Source: FEBS Letters - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research