Jaroenlak Pattana, McCarty Kacie L, Xia Bo, Lam Cherry, Zwack Erin E, Almasri Nadia L, Sudar Joseph, Aubry Maelle, Yanai Itai, Bhabha Gira, Ekiert Damian C
Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology and Genomics of Shrimp, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
Department of Cell Biology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, 10016, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 5;16(1):3269. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57837-z.
Microsporidia are single-celled intracellular parasites that cause opportunistic diseases in humans. Encephalitozoon intestinalis is a prevalent human-infecting species that invades the small intestine. Macrophages are potential reservoirs of infection, and dissemination to other organ systems is also observed. The macrophage response to infection and the developmental trajectory of the parasite are not well studied. Here we use single cell RNA sequencing to investigate transcriptional changes in both the parasite and the host during E. intestinalis infection of human macrophages in vitro. The parasite undergoes large transcriptional changes throughout the life cycle, providing a blueprint for parasite development. While a small population of infected macrophages mount a response, most remain transcriptionally unchanged, suggesting that the majority of parasites may avoid host detection. The stealthy microsporidian lifestyle likely allows these parasites to harness macrophages for replication. Together, our data provide insights into the host response in primary human macrophages and the E. intestinalis developmental program.
微孢子虫是引起人类机会性疾病的单细胞细胞内寄生虫。肠脑炎微孢子虫是一种常见的感染人类的物种，可侵入小肠。巨噬细胞是潜在的感染储存库，也观察到其传播到其他器官系统。巨噬细胞对感染的反应以及寄生虫的发育轨迹尚未得到充分研究。在这里，我们使用单细胞RNA测序来研究体外人巨噬细胞感染肠脑炎微孢子虫期间寄生虫和宿主的转录变化。寄生虫在整个生命周期中经历了巨大的转录变化，为寄生虫发育提供了蓝图。虽然一小部分受感染的巨噬细胞会产生反应，但大多数巨噬细胞的转录保持不变，这表明大多数寄生虫可能会避免被宿主检测到。这种隐秘的微孢子虫生活方式可能使这些寄生虫利用巨噬细胞进行复制。总之，我们的数据为原代人巨噬细胞中的宿主反应和肠脑炎微孢子虫的发育程序提供了见解。
