Bacterial endocytosis uncovered (original) (raw)

Evolution

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 8, pages 534–535 (2010)Cite this article

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G. obscuriglobus possesses the first endocytosis-like system to be found outside of the eukaryotic domain.

Lonhienne and colleagues incubated G. obscuriglobus cells with GFP and observed that the GFP was present inside the bacteria within 5 minutes. Uptake was saturable and could be blocked by incubating the cells at 0 °C or by the addition of the respiratory inhibitor sodium azide, as would be expected for an energy-dependent, receptor-mediated endocytic process. Immunogold labelling of frozen cells revealed that GFP localized to small invaginations in the cytoplasmic membrane and to vesicle-like structures of 50–200 nm diameter in the paryphoplasm. Furthermore, the vesicles and membrane invaginations could be labelled with an antibody specific for the G. obscuriglobus membrane coat-like protein gp4978. The authors propose that restriction of GFP-containing vesicles to the paryphoplasm suggests a possible function for this compartment in degrading endocytosed material. Consistent with this, DQ Green BSA, which becomes fluorescent on proteolysis, could be detected in the paryphoplasm following its uptake into the cell. Taken together, these findings suggest that G. obscuriglobus possesses the first endocytosis-like system to be found outside of the eukaryotic domain.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Lonhienne, T. G. A. et al. Endocytosis-like protein uptake in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 21 Jun 2010 (doi:10.1073/pnas.1001085107)
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  1. Andrew Jermy
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Jermy, A. Bacterial endocytosis uncovered.Nat Rev Microbiol 8, 534–535 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2408

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