Lipopolysaccharide enhances bactericidal activity in Dictyostelium discoideum cells

Innate immune cells respond to invading microbes upon detection of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPS). PAMP-recognition machinery is evolutionarily conserved, allowing for characterization in model organisms. The model organism Dictyostelium discoideum can exist as single-celled amoebae, which phagocytize bacteria for nutrients. Although D. discoideum is used extensively to study phagocytosis, it has not been determined if D. discoideum detects bacterial PAMPs using pattern-recognition machinery. Here we show that D. discoideum mounts responses against the bacterial cell wall PAMP, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Upon treatment with LPS or its active component Lipid A, D. discoideum cells more efficiently clear phagocytized bacteria. LPS-enhanced bactericidal activity appears dependent both on MAPK signaling pathways as well as on the D. discoideum toll/interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing protein, TirA. These findings indicate that pattern-recognition machinery required to detect and respond to bacterial PAMPs may be conserved in D. discoideum.