Ferreira, Marina & Gonçalves, Diego & Medeiros, Elisa & Peralta, José Mauro & Guimaraes, Allan. (2021). “Feast-Fit-Fist-Feat”: Overview of Free-living Amoeba Interactions with Fungi and Virulence as a Foundation for Success in Battle. Current Tropical Medicine Reports. 8.

DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40475-020-00220-3

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Free-living amoebae (FLAs) are ubiquitous and can co-habit similar niches and interact with fungi. Herein, we discuss theories on FLAs and the origin, evolution, and conservation of fungal virulence, proposing the “feast-fit-fist-feat” hypothesis that covers the knowledge on FLA-fungi interactions, and could be extended during evolutionarily host escalation. Overall, by bridling this selective pressure, fungi might return to environment and by serendipity, infect superior hosts. The selected traits might grant the fungus with an enhanced capacity to cause damage, or virulence. The fungal virulence factors that might be expressed during infection to amoeba and that grant a fungal benefit during infection to mammals are discussed. However, how they are induced during infection of FLAs is still an open field. Here we discuss also the “Trojan Horse” role of FLAs and the importance of co-infections and disease outcome.