Figure 2.

Interference of A. fumigatus conidia with macrophages. (A) Different intracellular fate of wild-type and pksP conidia. After recognition, swollen conidia are phagocytosed and fusion of the conidium-containing phagosome with lysosomal vesicles forms the phagolysosome. Wild-type conidia but not pksP conidia are able to inhibit phagolysosomal acidification (pH <5) and thereby prevent to be degraded by lytic proteins. (B) Intracellular presence of conidia is essential to protect macrophages from cell death. Conidia in acidified phagosomes do not exhibit anti-apoptotic properties.