kely involves fusion of late phagosomes with late endosomes/lysosomes. The regulatory node controlled by PI3K p110a is likely located parallel to Rab7 acquisition on the phagosome membrane. This conclusion is based upon our having shown that although phagosomes isolated from p110a knockdown cells contained Rab7 capable of recruiting important effectors for membrane fusion, a block in the delivery of late endosomal/lysosomal components was nevertheless observed. This interpretation is supported further by a previous finding that phagosomes in cells treated with the class I and III PI3K inhibitor wortmannin also had normal recruitment and activation of Rab7 and RILP, despite showing a profound inability to fuse with late endosomes/lysosomes. The latter findings and those we are reporting here provide evidence that phagosome maturation BMS 650032 web requires an additional PI3K-mediated step in addition to Rab7 activity, and that Rab7 acquisition and activation are not sufficient to ensure maturation proceeds to completion. In addition, we found that the delivery of cathepsin D and acidification of phagosomes occurred independently of the acquisition of LAMPs and b-galactosidase. Thus, cathepsin D and vacuolar ATPase subunit recruitment may occur from direct TGN to phagosome transport. Taken together, these findings allow for development of a model of phagosome maturation in which phagosomes formed by ingestion of prey via certain phagocytic receptors recruit Rab5 and EEA-1 independently of p110a PI3K activity. Rab7 and its downstream effectors are then recruited to phagosomes. However, acquisition of functional Rab7 is by itself not sufficient for mediating fusion of the maturing phagosomes with late endosomes/lysosomes, which requires p110a activity. In conclusion, the data show that 
PI3K p110a plays a pivotal role in this process, and in its absence, completion of phagosome maturation does not occur. Materials and Methods Construction of p110a Knockdown Cells The generation of constitutively silenced p110a knockdown and control THP-1 cells was described previously. In order to generate an inducible system for p110a knockdown using distinct shRNA sequences, a pTRIPZ construct encoding a shRNA targeting p110a was purchased from Open Biosystems. This vector allows for the expression of shRNA after doxycycline induction. pTRIPZ lentivirus was produced and THP-1 cells were transduced as described previously. Cell Culture and Induction of p110a Knockdown All cells were maintained in RPMI media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, and 2 mM L-glutamine. Twenty-four hours prior to phagosome maturation assays, constitutively PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2221058 silenced p110a knockdown and control cells were given 10 ng/ mL of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and seeded onto 6-well culture plates for differentiation at 37uC/5% CO2. Three hours prior to feeding prey, cells were washed once with warm media and allowed to rest. For pTRIPZ transduced THP-1, cells were seeded into 6-well culture plates with 10 ng/mL of PMA and 2 mg/mL of doxycycline. Cells were allowed to differentiate for 24 h, then washed once with warm media, and subsequently given fresh media with 2 mg/mL of doxycycline for an additional 24 h prior to experimentation. Phagocytosis Assays Alexafluor 633 labelling of M. smegmatis and infection. Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 was cultured from frozen glycerol stocks in LB media. Cultures were shaken overnight at 37uC to log phase, then the optical density at 580 nm was measured to