Conservative Mechanisms of Extracellular Trap Formation by Annelida Eisenia andrei: Serine Protease Activity Requirement.

ABSTRACT: Formation of extracellular traps (ETs) capturing and immobilizing pathogens is now a well-established defense mechanism added to the repertoire of vertebrate phagocytes. These ETs are composed of extracellular DNA (extDNA), histones and antimicrobial proteins. Formation of mouse and human ETs depends on enzymes (i) facilitating decondensation of chromatin by citrullination of histones, and (ii) serine proteases degrading histones. In invertebrates, initial reports revealed existence of ETs composed of extDNA and histones, and here we document for the first time that also coelomocytes, immunocompetent cells of an earthworm Eisenia andrei, cast ETs which successfully trap bacteria in a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent and -independent manner. Importantly, the formation of ETs was obse

SUBMITTER: Homa J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4945018 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature