Shigella enters epithlial cells via internalization into a vacuole. Subsequent vacuolar membrane rupture allows bacterial escape into the cytosol for replication and cell-to-cell spread. Bacterial effectors such as IpgD, a PI(4,5)P2 phosphatase that generates PI(5)P and alters host actin, facilitate this internalization. Here, we identify host proteins involved in Shigella uptake and vacuolar membrane rupture by high-content siRNA screening and subsequently focus on Rab11, a constituent of the recycling compartment. Rab11-positive vesicles are recruited to the invasion site before vacuolar rupture, and Rab11 knockdown dramatically decreases vacuolar membrane rupture. Additionally, Rab11 recruitment is absent and vacuolar rupture is delayed in the ipgD mutant that does not dephosphorylate PI(4,5)P₂ into PI(5)P. Ultrastructural analyses of Rab11-positive vesicles further reveal that ipgD mutant-containing vacuoles become confined in actin structures that likely contribute to delayed vacular rupture. These findings provide insight into the underlying molecular mechanism of vacuole progression and rupture during Shigella invasion.

Heme detoxification is a critical step in the life cycle of malariacausing parasites, achieved by crystallization into physiologically insoluble hemozoin. The mode of nucleation has profound implications for understanding the mechanism of action of antimalarial drugs that inhibit hemozoin growth. Several lines of evidence point to involvement of acylglycerol lipids in the nucleation process. Hemozoin crystals have been reported to form within lipid nanospheres; alternatively, it has been found in vitro that they are nucleated at an acylglycerol lipid-water interface. We have applied cryogenic soft X-ray tomography and three-dimensional electron microscopy to address the location and orientation of hemozoin crystals within the digestive vacuole (DV), as a signature of their nucleation and growth processes. Cryogenic soft X-ray tomography in the "water window" is particularly advantageous because contrast generation is based inherently on atomic absorption. We find that hemozoin nucleation occurs at the DV inner membrane, with crystallization occurring in the aqueous rather than lipid phase. The crystal morphology indicates a common {100} orientation facing the membrane as expected of templated nucleation. This is consistent with conclusions reached by X-ray fluorescence and diffraction in a companion work. Uniform dark spheres observed in the parasite were identified as hemoglobin transport vesicles. Their analysis supports a model of hemozoin nucleation primarily in the DV. Modeling of the contrast at the DV membrane indicates a 4-nm thickness with patches about three times thicker, possibly implicated in the nucleation.heterogeneous crystal nucleation | beta-hematin | X-ray microscopy | focused ion beam | quinoline

Intracellular pathogens include all viruses, many bacteria and parasites capable of invading and surviving within host cells. Key to survival is the subversion of host cell pathways by the pathogen for the purpose of propagation and evading the immune system. The intracellular bacterium Shigella flexneri, the causative agent of bacillary dysentery, invades host cells in a vacuole that is subsequently ruptured to allow growth of the pathogen within the host cytoplasm. S. flexneri invasion has been classically described as a macropinocytosis-like process, however the underlying details and the role of macropinosomes in the intracellular bacterial lifestyle have remained elusive. We applied dynamic imaging and advanced large volume correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM) to study the highly transient events of S. flexneri’s early invasion into host epithelial cells and elucidate some of its fundamental features. First, we demonstrate a clear distinction between two compartments formed during the first step of invasion: the bacterial containing vacuole and surrounding macropinosomes, often considered identical. Next, we report a functional link between macropinosomes and the process of vacuolar rupture, demonstrating that rupture timing is dependent on the availability of macropinosomes as well as the activity of the small GTPase Rab11 recruited directly to macropinosomes. We go on to reveal that the bacterial containing vacuole and macropinosomes come into direct contact at the onset of vacuolar rupture. Finally, we demonstrate that S. flexneri does not subvert pre-existing host endocytic vesicles during the invasion steps leading to vacuolar rupture, and propose that macropinosomes are the major compartment involved in these events. These results provide the basis for a new model of the early steps of S. flexneri epithelial cell invasion, establishing a different view of the enigmatic process of cytoplasmic access by invasive bacterial pathogens.

SummaryThe deadliest form of human malaria is caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The complex life cycle of this parasite is associated with tight transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Nuclear positioning and chromatin dynamics may play an important role in regulating P. falciparum virulence genes. We have applied an emerging technique of electron microscopy to construct a 3D model of the parasite nucleus at distinct stages of development within the infected red blood cell. We have followed the distribution of nuclear pores and chromatin throughout the intraerythrocytic cycle, and have found a striking coupling between the distributions of nuclear pores and chromatin organization. Pore dynamics involve clustering, biogenesis, and division among daughter cells, while chromatin undergoes stagedependent changes in packaging. Dramatic changes in heterochromatin distribution coincide with a previously identified transition in gene expression and nucleosome positioning during the mid-to-late schizont phase. We also found a correlation between euchromatin positioning at the nuclear envelope and the local distribution of nuclear pores, as well as a dynamic nuclear polarity during schizogony. These results suggest that cyclic patterns in gene expression during parasite development correlate with gross changes in cellular and nuclear architecture.

Salmonella invades epithelial cells and survives within a membrane-bound compartment, the Salmonella-containing vacuole (SCV). We isolated and determined the host protein composition of the SCV at 30 min and 3 h of infection to identify and characterize novel regulators of intracellular bacterial localization and growth. Quantitation of the SCV protein content revealed 392 host proteins specifically enriched at SCVs, out of which 173 associated exclusively with early SCVs, 124 with maturing SCV and 95 proteins during both time-points. Vacuole interactions with endoplasmic reticulum-derived coat protein complex II vesicles modulate early steps of SCV maturation, promoting SCV rupture and bacterial hyper-replication within the host cytosol. On the other hand, SCV interactions with VAMP7-positive lysosome-like vesicles promote Salmonella-induced filament formation and bacterial growth within the late SCV. Our results reveal that the dynamic communication between the SCV and distinct host organelles affects both intracellular Salmonella localization and growth at successive steps of host cell invasion.