The noodle defense.
Swanson JA.
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Abstract
Macrophages ingest and kill microbes by phagocytosis and delivery to lysosomes. In this issue, Prashar et al. (2013, J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201304095) demonstrate that the elongated morphology of filamentous bacteria does not prevent ingestion by macrophages or the fusion of lysosomes, but creates a chimeric, unclosed phagolysosomal compartment whose leakiness blunts the toxicity of lysosomal enzymes, thereby increasing bacterial survival.