Abstract
This study investigated the role of autophagy in the survival of the invasive bacterium Brucella melitensis strain 16M in murine macrophages. Here, Brucella melitensis 16M was found to trigger autophagosome formation, enhance autophagy flux and increase the expression level of the autophagy marker protein LC3-II. When autophagy was pharmacologically inhibited by 3-methyladenine (3-MA), Brucella replication efficiency was significantly decreased (p < 0.05). These results suggest that autophagy favors Brucella melitensis 16M survival in murine macrophages.
Key words: Autophagy, Brucella melitensis 16M, LC3-II, LC3-I, Autophagosome, Autophagy flux, 3-Methyladenine, Intracellular pathogens, Murine macrophage RAW264.7, Autophagic vesicle
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Abbreviations used
- 3-MA
3-methyladenine
- BCV
Brucella-containing vacuole
- CFU
colony forming units
- DMEM
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium
- ER
endoplasmic reticulum
- FBS
fetal bovine serum
- GFP
green fluorescent protein
- MOI
multiplicity of infection
- MTT
3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide
- PBS
phosphate buffered saline
- TBST
Tris buffered saline with Tween
Footnotes
Both authors contributed equally to the work
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