Partners in Crime

When infecting microorganisms begin to invade the host’s body, the immune system sends out an army of immune cells to consume and destroy them. It’s thought that some types of bugs could exploit this immune response to help other species co-infect. Candida albicans (a fungus) and Staphylococcus aureus (a bacterium) – often identified in polymicrobial infections and the cause of serious disease – are an example of this. Researchers witnessed a hypha [a growing filament] of C. albicans piercing through a macrophage (the immune cells pictured) after it had been engulfed (false-coloured purple), and S. aureus (pictured in green) was observed co-escaping from the macrophage because of its attraction to the hyphae. This interaction between two different microorganisms gives insight into a complex relationship worthy of further research, as it could not only help our understanding of the immune response, but also help produce new treatment options for patients.

Written by Katie Panteli

Katie Panteli

Writer

Katie, a Warwick Biomed graduate, works for a science-publishing house in London with some of the world's most respected scientific minds. She's most interested in human biology, anything and everything that makes us tick.

• Image by Mary Ann Jabra-Rizk and Eric Kong
• University of Maryland, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Pathogens, March 2015