Exosome Biogenesis in the Protozoa Parasite Giardia lamblia: A Model of Reduced Interorganellar Crosstalk

MOYANO, SOFÍA; MUSSO, JULIANA; FELIZIANI, CONSTANZA; ZAMPONI, NAHUEL; FRONTERA, LORENA SOLEDAD; ROPOLO, ANDREA SILVANA; LANFREDI-RANGEL, ADRIANA; LALLE, MARCO; TOUZ, MARÍA C.

Cells

MDPI AG

Año: 2019 vol. 8

2073-4409

xtracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate intercellular communication and are considered a promising therapeutic tool for the treatment of infectious diseases. These vesicles involve microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes and selectively transfer proteins, lipids, mRNAs, and microRNAs from one cell to another. While MVs are formed by extrusion of the plasma membrane, exosomes are a population of vesicles of endosomal origin that are stored inside the multivesicular bodies (MVBs) as intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) and are released when the MVBs fuse with the plasma membrane. Biogenesis of exosomes may be driven by the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery or may be ESCRT independent, and it is still debated whether these are entirely separate pathways. In this manuscript, we report that the protozoan parasite, Giardia lamblia, although lacking a classical endo-lysosomal pathway, is able to produce and release exosome-like vesicles (ElV). By using a combination of bioch