Antimicrobial histones and DNA traps in invertebrate immunity: evidences in Crassostrea gigas.

ABSTRACT: Although antimicrobial histones have been isolated from multiple metazoan species, their role in host defense has long remained unanswered. We found here that the hemocytes of the oyster Crassostrea gigas release antimicrobial H1-like and H5-like histones in response to tissue damage and infection. These antimicrobial histones were shown to be associated with extracellular DNA networks released by hemocytes, the circulating immune cells of invertebrates, in response to immune challenge. The hemocyte-released DNA was found to surround and entangle vibrios. This defense mechanism is reminiscent of the neutrophil extracellular traps (ETs) recently described in vertebrates. Importantly, oyster ETs were evidenced in vivo in hemocyte-infiltrated interstitial tissues surrounding wounds, whereas t

SUBMITTER: Poirier AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4155652 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature