More publications from my PhD (University of  Bath)

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Award-winning Images from my PhD!

Silva CP, Waterfield NR, Daborn PJ, Dean P, Chilver T, Au CP, Sharma S, Potter U, Reynolds SE, ffrench-Constant RH. Bacterial infection of a model insect: Photorhabdus luminescens and Manduca sexta. Cell. Microbiol. 2002 Jun;4(6):329-39.

Dean P, Gadsden JC, Richards EH, Edwards JP, Keith Charnley A, Reynolds SE.Modulation by eicosanoid biosynthesis inhibitors of immune responses by the insect Manduca sexta to the pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. J. Invertebr. Pathol. 2002 Feb;79(2):93-101.

1: Dean P. Cell of the month: An insect blood cell engulfing bacteria. Nat. Cell.
Biol. 2003 Nov;5(11):957
.

Au C, Dean P, Reynolds SE, ffrench-Constant RH. Effect of the insect pathogenic bacterium Photorhabdus on insect phagocytes. Cell. Microbiol. 2004 Jan;6(1):89-95.

Dean P, Richards EH, Edwards JP, Reynolds SE, Charnley K. Microbial infection causes the appearance of hemocytes with extreme spreading ability in monolayers of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. Dev. Comp. Immunol. 2004 Jun;28(7-8):689-700.

Dean P, Potter U, Richards EH, Edwards JP, Charnley AK, Reynolds SE. Hyperphagocytic haemocytes in Manduca sexta. J. Insect Physiol. 2004 Nov;50(11):1027-36.

Xia Y, Dean P, Judge AJ, Gillespie JP, Clarkson JM, Charnley AK.  Acid phosphatases in the haemolymph of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, infected with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae.J. Insect Physiol. 2000. Sep 1;46(9):1249-1257

 

Cell-eater2
fluocell3_1

Hyper-phagocytosis

A confocal cross section of an insect hyper-phagocyte (HP) ingesting over 600 E. coli bacteria stained with FITC (green)

Receptor-mediated attachment

Hyper-phagocytic (HP) cells bind very strongly to bacteria. When treated with a meabolic inhibitor to stop ingestion, HP cells (stained red for actin) still bound a large number of bacteria (green).

HP-cell-trans2

HP spreading

Spread2_1

HP-cell2-NCB

Cell-eater2

Spread-Hemocytes

fluocell3_1

control-cells

HP-spreading2
control-cells
HP-cell2-NCB
Spread2
HP-cell-trans2

Hyper-phagocytes are also “hyper-spreaders”

When attached to a foreign surface (such as a glass coverslip), HP cells spread very quickly as if they are trying to engulf the foreign surface (red = actin)

Insect Blood Cells (hemocytes)

Most insect blood cells are not hyper-phagoctyic. HP cells represent less than 1% of the hemocyte population.

 

Hyperphagocytosis in action

An insect HP cell (stained for actin), spread on a glass coverslip engulfing several hundred FITC-stained bacteria

 

Fungal infection also induces spreading of a blood cell sub-population

Actin (green) stained insect blood cells after infection with a fungal pathogen. Many cells exhibit an extremely large spreading morphology, very different to neighboring typical cells.

 

Transmitted Light View of hyper-phagocytosis

FITC-labelled E. coli being engulfed by an insect hyper-phagocyte

 

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