Mycoplasma exploits mammalian tunneling nanotubes for cell-to-cell dissemination.

ABSTRACT: Using tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), various pathological molecules and viruses disseminate to adjacent cells intercellularly. Here, we show that the intracellular invasion of Mycoplasma hyorhinis induces the formation of actin- and tubulin-based TNTs in various mammalian cell lines. M. hyorhinis was found in TNTs generated by M. hyorhinis infection in NIH3T3 cells. Because mycoplasma-free recipient cells received mycoplasmas from M. hyorhinis-infected donor cells in a mixed co-culture system and not a spatially separated co-culture system, direct cell-to-cell contact via TNTs was necessary for the intracellular dissemination of M. hyorhinis. The activity of Rac1, which is a small GTP binding protein, was increased by the intracellular invasion of M. hyorhinis, and its pharmacological and gen

SUBMITTER: Kim BW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6726209 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature