Characterising phagocytes and measuring phagocytosis from live Galleria mellonella larvae

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, the larva of the greater waxmoth, Galleria mellonella, has rapidly increased in popularity as an in vivo mammalian replacement model organism for the study of human pathogens. Despite this, experimental readouts of response to infection are generally limited to observing the melanisation cascade - where the organism turns black as part of the systemic immune response - and quantifying larval death over time. As an invertebrate, Galleria harbour an innate immune system comprised of both humoral components and a repertoire of innate immune cells - termed hemocytes. Though information on subtypes of hemocytes exist, there are conflicting reports on their exact number and function. Flow cytometry has previously been used to assay Galleria hemocytes, but protocols include both centrifugation and fixation - physical methods which have the potential to affect hemocyte morphology prior to analysis. Here, we present a method for live hemocyte analysis by flow cytometry, revealing that Galleria hemocytes constitute only a single resolvable population, based on relative size or internal complexity. Using fluorescent zymosan particles, we extend our method to show that up to 80% of the Galleria hemocyte population display phagocytic capability. Finally, we demonstrate that the developed assay reliably replicates in vitro data, showing that cell wall {beta}-1,3-glucan masking by Candida albicans subverts phagocytic responses. As such, our method provides a new tool with which to rapidly assess phagocytosis and understand live infection dynamics in Galleria.