Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.

Autophagy plays a crucial role in the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, yet the dynamics and regulation of autophagy induction on Mtb-containing vacuoles (MCVs) remain only partially understood. We employed time-lapse confocal microscopy to investigate the recruitment of L...

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Main Authors: Jacques Augenstreich, Anna T Phan, Charles N S Allen, Anushka Poddar, Hanzhang Chen, Lalitha Srinivasan, Volker Briken
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012830
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author Jacques Augenstreich
Anna T Phan
Charles N S Allen
Anushka Poddar
Hanzhang Chen
Lalitha Srinivasan
Volker Briken
author_facet Jacques Augenstreich
Anna T Phan
Charles N S Allen
Anushka Poddar
Hanzhang Chen
Lalitha Srinivasan
Volker Briken
author_sort Jacques Augenstreich
collection DOAJ
description Autophagy plays a crucial role in the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, yet the dynamics and regulation of autophagy induction on Mtb-containing vacuoles (MCVs) remain only partially understood. We employed time-lapse confocal microscopy to investigate the recruitment of LC3B (LC3), a key autophagy marker, to MCVs at the single cell level with our newly developed workflow for single cell and single MCV tracking and fluorescence quantification. We show that approximately 70% of MCVs exhibited LC3 recruitment but that was lost in about 40% of those MCVs. The LC3 recruitment to MCVs displayed a high variability in timing that was independent of the size of the MCV or the bacterial burden. Most notably, the LC3-positive MCVs did not acidify, indicating that LC3 recruitment does not necessarily lead to the formation of mature autophagolysosomes. Interferon-gamma pre-treatment did not affect LC3 recruitment frequency or autophagosome acidification but increased the susceptibility of the macrophage to Mtb-induced cell death. LC3 recruitment and lysotracker staining were mutually exclusive events, alternating on some MCVs multiple times thus demonstrating a reversible aspect of the autophagy response. The LC3 recruitment was associated with galectin-3 and oxysterol-binding protein 1 staining, indicating a correlation with membrane damage and repair mechanisms. ATG7 knock-down did not impact membrane repair, suggesting that autophagy is not directly involved in this process but is coregulated by the membrane damage of MCVs. In summary, our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic and variable nature of LC3 recruitment to the MCVs over time during Mtb infection. Our data does not support a role for autophagy in either cell-autonomous defense against Mtb or membrane repair of the MCV in human macrophages. In addition, the combined dynamics of LC3 recruitment and Lysoview staining emerged as promising markers for investigating the damage and repair processes of phagosomal membranes.
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spelling doaj-art-610ceda815654334a55c2720c84722482025-02-05T05:30:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742025-01-01211e101283010.1371/journal.ppat.1012830Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.Jacques AugenstreichAnna T PhanCharles N S AllenAnushka PoddarHanzhang ChenLalitha SrinivasanVolker BrikenAutophagy plays a crucial role in the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, yet the dynamics and regulation of autophagy induction on Mtb-containing vacuoles (MCVs) remain only partially understood. We employed time-lapse confocal microscopy to investigate the recruitment of LC3B (LC3), a key autophagy marker, to MCVs at the single cell level with our newly developed workflow for single cell and single MCV tracking and fluorescence quantification. We show that approximately 70% of MCVs exhibited LC3 recruitment but that was lost in about 40% of those MCVs. The LC3 recruitment to MCVs displayed a high variability in timing that was independent of the size of the MCV or the bacterial burden. Most notably, the LC3-positive MCVs did not acidify, indicating that LC3 recruitment does not necessarily lead to the formation of mature autophagolysosomes. Interferon-gamma pre-treatment did not affect LC3 recruitment frequency or autophagosome acidification but increased the susceptibility of the macrophage to Mtb-induced cell death. LC3 recruitment and lysotracker staining were mutually exclusive events, alternating on some MCVs multiple times thus demonstrating a reversible aspect of the autophagy response. The LC3 recruitment was associated with galectin-3 and oxysterol-binding protein 1 staining, indicating a correlation with membrane damage and repair mechanisms. ATG7 knock-down did not impact membrane repair, suggesting that autophagy is not directly involved in this process but is coregulated by the membrane damage of MCVs. In summary, our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic and variable nature of LC3 recruitment to the MCVs over time during Mtb infection. Our data does not support a role for autophagy in either cell-autonomous defense against Mtb or membrane repair of the MCV in human macrophages. In addition, the combined dynamics of LC3 recruitment and Lysoview staining emerged as promising markers for investigating the damage and repair processes of phagosomal membranes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012830
spellingShingle Jacques Augenstreich
Anna T Phan
Charles N S Allen
Anushka Poddar
Hanzhang Chen
Lalitha Srinivasan
Volker Briken
Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
PLoS Pathogens
title Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
title_full Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
title_fullStr Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
title_full_unstemmed Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
title_short Dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
title_sort dynamic interplay of autophagy and membrane repair during mycobacterium tuberculosis infection
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012830
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