Nature Communications (Apr 2021)

Kidney intercalated cells are phagocytic and acidify internalized uropathogenic Escherichia coli

  • Vijay Saxena,
  • Hongyu Gao,
  • Samuel Arregui,
  • Amy Zollman,
  • Malgorzata Maria Kamocka,
  • Xiaoling Xuei,
  • Patrick McGuire,
  • Michael Hutchens,
  • Takashi Hato,
  • David S. Hains,
  • Andrew L. Schwaderer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22672-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

Read online

Kidney intercalated cells are involved in acid-base homeostasis in the kidneys. Here, the authors use single cell transcriptomics and find that interalated cells exhibit a transcriptional response conducive to defense and can engulf and acidify internalized bacteria, similarly to professional phagocytes.