Mycoplasma exploits mammalian tunneling nanotubes for cell-to-cell dissemination |
Bong-Woo Kim1,2, Jae-Seon Lee3, Young-Gyu Ko1,4,* |
1Tunneling Nanotube Research Center, Korea University, 2Skin Innovation R&D centre, HnB9 Co., Ltd., 3Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, 4Division of Life Sciences, Korea University, Korea University |
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 genetic inhibition prevented M. hyorhinis infection-induced TNT generation in NIH3T3 cells. The pharmacological and genetic inhibition of Rac1 also reduced the cell-to-cell dissemination of M. hyorhinis. Based on these data, we conclude that intracellular invasion of M. hyorhinis induces the formation of TNTs, which are used for the cell-to-cell dissemination of M. hyorhinis.
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Abstract, Accepted Manuscript(in press) [Submitted on October 15, 2018, Accepted on November 4, 2018] |
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