Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism for invasive aspergillosis.

Methods in Molecular Biology
Michail S Lionakis, Dimitrios P Kontoyiannis

Abstract

Mammalian hosts have traditionally been considered the "gold standard" models for studying pathogenesis and antifungal drug activity in invasive aspergillosis (IA). Nevertheless, logistical, economical, and ethical constraints make these host systems difficult to use for high-throughput screening of putative Aspergillus virulence factors and novel antifungal compounds. Here, we present Drosophila melanogaster, a heterologous non-vertebrate host with conserved innate immunity and genetic tractability, as an alternative, easy-to-use, and inexpensive pathosystem for studying Aspergillus pathogenesis and antifungal activity. We describe three different infection protocols (i.e., injection, rolling, ingestion) that introduce Aspergillus conidia at different anatomical sites of Toll-deficient Drosophila flies. These reproducible assays can be used to (1) determine the virulence of various Aspergillus strains and to (2) assess the anti-Aspergillus activity of orally absorbed antifungal agents in vivo. These methods can also be adapted to study pathogenesis and antifungal drug activity against other medically important human fungal pathogens.

Citations

Dec 5, 2015·Frontiers in Microbiology·Haroldo C de OliveiraMaria J S Mendes-Giannini
Jun 17, 2014·Drug Discovery Today·Caroline PaulussenLouis J R M Maes
Feb 9, 2017·Frontiers in Microbiology·Liliana ScorzoniAna M Fusco-Almeida
Jan 27, 2018·Mycobiology·Hadeel Saeed Al-MalikiJoan W Bennett
May 16, 2019·The Journal of Biological Chemistry·Munmun ChowdhuryXiao-Qiang Yu
Apr 3, 2019·Journal of Fungi·Ilse D Jacobsen
Jul 17, 2020·Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology·Chukwuemeka Samson AhamefuleWenxia Fang
Jun 1, 2017·Frontiers in Microbiology·Guillaume Desoubeaux, Carolyn Cray
Nov 5, 2019·Frontiers in Microbiology·Karen G N OshiroOctávio Luiz Franco
May 27, 2021·Studies in Mycology·A ArastehfarM Hoenigl

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Antifungals

An antifungal, also known as an antimycotic medication, is a pharmaceutical fungicide or fungistatic used to treat and prevent mycosis such as athlete's foot, ringworm, candidiasis, cryptococcal meningitis, and others. Discover the latest research on antifungals here.

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Aspergillosis is the name given to a wide variety of diseases caused by infection by fungi of the genus Aspergillus. Aspergillosis occurs in chronic or acute forms which are clinically very distinct. Most cases of acute aspergillosis occur in patients with severely compromised immune systems. Chronic colonization or infection can cause complications in people with underlying respiratory illnesses. Discover the latest research on aspergillosis here.