Abstract
The haploid social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a powerful model organism to study vesicle trafficking, motility and migration, cell division, developmental processes, and host cell-pathogen interactions. Dynamin superfamily proteins (DSPs) are large GTPases, which promote membrane fission and fusion, as well as membrane-independent cellular processes. Accordingly, DSPs play crucial roles for vesicle biogenesis and transport, organelle homeostasis, cytokinesis and cell-autonomous immunity. Major progress has been made over the last years in elucidating the function and structure of mammalian DSPs. D. discoideum produces at least eight DSPs, which are involved in membrane dynamics and other processes. The function and structure of these large GTPases has not been fully explored, despite the elaborate genetic and cell biological tools available for D. discoideum. In this review, we focus on the current knowledge about mammalian and D. discoideum DSPs, and we advocate the use of the genetically tractable amoeba to further study the role of DSPs in cell and infection biology. Particular emphasis is put on the virulence mechanisms of the facultative intracellular bacterium Legionella pneumophila.
Highlights
Peroxisome scissionDynamin superfamily proteins (DSPs). Among the fusion DSPs, the human atlastins (Atl1-3) form a cluster, which is separated from D. discoideum and S. cerevisiae Sey (Atl)
Reviewed by: Monica Hagedorn, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany James Alan Marrs, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis, United States Shigehiko Yumura, Yamaguchi University, Japan
We focus on the current knowledge about mammalian and D. discoideum Dynamin superfamily proteins (DSPs), and we advocate the use of the genetically tractable amoeba to further study the role of DSPs in cell and infection biology
Summary
DSPs. Among the fusion DSPs, the human atlastins (Atl1-3) form a cluster, which is separated from D. discoideum and S. cerevisiae Sey (Atl). Several recent comprehensive reviews have covered DSP members, as well as the structural bases for their respective functions (Ramachandran and Schmid, 2018; Ford and Chappie, 2019; Jimah and Hinshaw, 2019; Kalia and Frost, 2019). Some general features common to all DSPs have emerged that we briefly present here. The main scope of this review is to focus on DSP members identified so far in D. discoideum and highlight their importance for cellular membrane dynamics and hostpathogen interactions
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