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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 30: Posters: Physics of Cells
BP 30.15: Poster
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Granule motion in pathogenic amoebae studied with particle-tracking methods — •Julia Reverey1, Matthias Leippe2, and Christine Selhuber-Unkel1 — 1Institute for Materials Science, Biocompatible Nanomaterials, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kaiserstr. 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany — 2Zoological Institute, Zoophysiology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Entamoeba histolytica and Acanthamoeba are parasitic amoebae which can cause severe diseases, such as human amoebiasis, amoebic encephalitis and keratitis, respectively. They destroy target cells by an extracellular killing mechanism that is induced by the formation of a close contact between amoeba and target cell. Subsequently, granules that contain membrane-active proteins are transported to the contact site between amoeba and target cell. Therefore, the intra-amoebic motion of granules plays an essential role for the pathogenicity of the amoebae. For a deeper understanding of this amoebic killing mechanism, we record sequences of granule movement with phase-contrast microscopy in combination with a high-speed camera under physiological conditions. The motion of the granules within the amoeba is evaluated using particle tracking algorithms. In our final analysis, we particularly focus on distinguishing between passive diffusion and active transport of the granules.