Abstract
Extracellular DNA traps (ETs) are evolutionarily conserved antimicrobial mechanisms present in protozoa, plants, and animals. In this review, we compare their similarities in species of different taxa, and put forward the hypothesis that ETs have multiple origins. Our results are consistent with a process of evolutionary convergence in multicellular organisms through the application of a congruency test. Furthermore, we discuss why multicellularity is related to the presence of a mechanism initiating the formation of ETs.
Highlights
Two of the evolutionarily conserved defense mechanisms in multicellular organisms are coagulation [1, 2] and the formation of extracellular traps
Brinkmann et al [3] observed that, during inflammation and after stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interleukin 8 (IL-8), neutrophils form decongestant chromatin structures studded with microbicidal proteins, mainly elastase and histones
The mechanism occurs in the absence of functional NADPH oxidase; possibly the reactive oxygen species (ROS) necessary for the formation of basophil extracellular DNA traps (ETs) come from the mitochondria
Summary
Two of the evolutionarily conserved defense mechanisms in multicellular organisms are coagulation [1, 2] and the formation of extracellular traps. Certain cells form extracellular DNA traps (ETs), for example, monocytes, mast cells, and eosinophils in mammals, heterophils in birds and hemocytes in arthropods, mollusks, and crabs [4, 5]. Root border cells form extracellular root traps (RETs) [6], and in the protozoan, Dictyostelium discoideum, ETs have been described in their multicellular aggregative phase [7].
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