Summary: Review
Exploiting Amoeboid and Non-Vertebrate
Animal Model Systems to Study the
Virulence of Human Pathogenic Fungi
Eleftherios Mylonakis, Arturo Casadevall, Frederick M. Ausubel*
ABSTRACT
E
xperiments with insects, protozoa, nematodes, and
slime molds have recently come to the forefront in the
study of host­fungal interactions. Many of the
virulence factors required for pathogenicity in mammals are
also important for fungal survival during interactions with
non-vertebrate hosts, suggesting that fungal virulence may
have evolved, and been maintained, as a countermeasure to
environmental predation by amoebae and nematodes and
other small non-vertebrates that feed on microorganisms.
Host innate immune responses are also broadly conserved
across many phyla. The study of the interaction between
invertebrate model hosts and pathogenic fungi therefore
provides insights into the mechanisms underlying pathogen

Source: Ausubel, Frederick M. - Department of Genetics, Harvard University

Collections: Biology and Medicine