Bacterial Invaders

Sir Francis Drake famously sailed the high seas collecting bounty and fending off enemy Spaniards. However his watery end was less than heroic as it was dysentery that took his life. Over half a million people a year still die from this severe form of diarrhoea. One cause is infection with the bacteria Shigella. Special vesicles called macropinosomes are thought to be involved in Shigella infection. Researchers use the imaging technique CLEM to uncover the role these vesicles play. The bacterium (blue) invades the cell encased in a membrane called a vacuole, surrounded by scaffolds of actin (purple), and initially quite distinct from neighbouring vesicles (orange). Once inside macropinosomes that formed when the bacterium entered the cell make contact with the vacuole. This signals the vacuole to rupture and release Shigella into the cell cytoplasm. Knowing precisely how Shigella outsmarts our cells may open the door for new therapies.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Allon Weiner, Nora Mellouk and Noelia Lopez-Montero, and colleagues
• Institut Pasteur, Dynamics of Host-Pathogen interactions Unit, Paris, France
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Pathogens, May 2016