User:Campbell135/Phagolysosome

Peer reviewer: Grisbel Pena

DRAFT : Function

Phagolysosomes function by reducing the pH of their internal environment, thus making them acidic. This serves as a defense mechanism against microbes and other harmful parasites and also provides a suitable medium for degradative enzyme activity [ [article] ]

My edit:

Peer reviewer: Grisbel Pena

When the phagosome and lysosome interact with one another, they form a fully developed phagolysosome. A fully developed phagolysosome consists of digestive and aseptic properties. The purpose of phagolysosomes is to act as a protective barrier. It is a defense line that kills pathogenic bacteria that may have slipped through detection of the other immune system cells. The extracellular space that surrounds the lysosome is very acidic which is important for degradation because most cells cannot handle an acidic environment and will die, with an exception of a few.

For a phagolysosome to become a phagolysosome it must go through multiple steps. The first step is phagocytosis. Phagocytosis is when a cell engulfs an extracellular pathogen and entraps it in its membrane. When this happens the newly engulfed pathogen is called a phagosome. The next step is transportation and fusion. When it travels further into the cytosol, it comes into contact with the lysosome and fuses with it. The two fused membranes are now called phagolysosomes. The next step is digestion. Phagolysosome digests the pathogen revealing cell components (carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins). It will either be killed by apoptosis, engulfed by a macrophage, or presented to T-cells to induce an immune reaction.