ArticleInfection and immunity2003
Cryptococcus neoformans virulence is enhanced after growth in the genetically malleable host Dictyostelium discoideum.
Article in Infection and immunity, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- Experimental evolution of fungal pathogens as a tool to unravel host adaptation and virulence.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Pathogenicity and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans from an environmental perspective.Virulence · 2025Review
- Secretion of serine proteases by planktonic- and biofilm-growing cells of Candida parapsilosis.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2025Article
- Towards understanding a potentialOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Interactions of the emerging fungusMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Review
- Social life of free-living amoebae in aquatic environment- comprehensive insights into interactions of free-living amoebae with neighboring microorganisms.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Article
- Amoeba predation of Cryptococcus: A quantitative and population genomic evaluation of the accidental pathogen hypothesis.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Mutators Enhance Adaptive Micro-Evolution in Pathogenic Microbes.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Interaction ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Macrophage Mediated Immunomodulation DuringFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Article
- Microbial warfare in the wild-the impact of protists on the evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2021Review
- Article
- Dictyostelium discoideum as a non-mammalian biomedical model.Microbial biotechnology · 2021Review
- Article
- A hidden battle in the dirt: Soil amoebae interactions with Paracoccidioides spp.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- The 'Amoeboid Predator-Fungal Animal Virulence' Hypothesis.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Editorial: Amoebae as Host Models to Study the Interaction With Pathogens.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2019Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated, environmental fungus that can cause life-threatening meningitis. Pathogenicity of C. neoformans for macrophages and vertebrate hosts may be a mechanism selected in evolution for protection against environmental predators. In this study, we investigated whether Dictyostelium discoideum could serve as an alternate host for C. neoformans. D. discoideum has a defined genetic system which provides significant advantages for the study of fungus-amoeba interactions. Our results show that D. discoideum is susceptible to infection with C. neoformans and that the interactions are similar to those described previously for this fungus with macrophages and Acanthamoeba castellanii. Acapsular C. neoformans cells did not replicate when coincubated with D. discoideum. However, incubation of acapsular C. neoformans with D. discoideum mutants defective in myosin VII synthesis resulted in infection, validating the concept that avirulent organisms can be virulent in impaired hosts even at the unicellular level. Phagocytosis of C. neoformans by D. discoideum could be inhibited with capsule-specific antibodies and various sugars. Passage of an encapsulated C. neoformans strain through D. discoideum cultures increased virulence and was accompanied by larger capsules and faster time to melanization. These results add to the evidence implicating soil ameboid predators as important factors for the maintenance of C. neoformans virulence in the environment and suggest that D. discoideum promises to be an extremely useful system for studying the interaction of C. neoformans with phagocytic cells.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.