Extracellular vesicles from Pneumocystis carinii-infected rats impair fungal viability but are dispensable for macrophage functions.

ABSTRACT: Pneumocystis spp. are host obligate fungal pathogens that can cause severe pneumonia in mammals and rely heavily on their host for essential nutrients. The lack of a sustainable in vitro culture system poses challenges in understanding their metabolism, and the acquisition of essential nutrients from host lungs remains unexplored. Transmission electron micrographs show that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are found near Pneumocystis spp. within the lung. We hypothesized that EVs transport essential nutrients to the fungi during infection. To investigate this, EVs from P. carinii- and P. murina-infected rodents were biochemically and functionally characterized. These EVs contained host proteins involved in cellular, metabolic, and immune processes as well as

SUBMITTER: Sayson SG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10845964 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature