Invertebrate extracellular phagocyte traps show that chromatin is an ancient defence weapon

Calum T. Robb, Elisabeth A. Dyrynda, Robert D. Gray, Adriano G. Rossi and Valerie J. Smith ()
Additional contact information
Calum T. Robb: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Heriot Watt University
Elisabeth A. Dyrynda: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Heriot Watt University
Robert D. Gray: Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh
Adriano G. Rossi: Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh
Valerie J. Smith: Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Controlled release of chromatin from the nuclei of inflammatory cells is a process that entraps and kills microorganisms in the extracellular environment. Now termed ETosis, it is important for innate immunity in vertebrates. Paradoxically, however, in mammals, it can also contribute to certain pathologies. Here we show that ETosis occurs in several invertebrate species, including, remarkably, an acoelomate. Our findings reveal that the phenomenon is primordial and predates the evolution of the coelom. In invertebrates, the released chromatin participates in defence not only by ensnaring microorganisms and externalizing antibacterial histones together with other haemocyte-derived defence factors, but crucially, also provides the scaffold on which intact haemocytes assemble during encapsulation; a response that sequesters and kills potential pathogens infecting the body cavity. This insight into the early origin of ETosis identifies it as a very ancient process that helps explain some of its detrimental effects in mammals.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5627 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5627

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5627

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().