phagosome

[fag-uh-sohm]

noun

1. a vacuole within a phagocyte that contains bacteria or other ingested particles and that becomes fused with a lysosome.

Word History and Origins

Origin of phagosome¹

First recorded in 1955–60; phago- + -some ³

Example Sentences

Finally, photographs of Amoebophilus trapped inside phagosomes showed that anywhere a bacterium physically touched the phagosome membrane, the injection guns were adjacent to the point of contact, and at least one of them had been fired.

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Stabbing the phagosome, however, seems to allow Amoebophilus to escape its prison, avoid being eaten, and then to help itself to its host’s pantry while making lots of little bacteria.

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It’s not yet clear, however, whether the phagosome is destroyed by the escape, nor whether it is ruptured by the physical act of puncture or by chemicals delivered by the spears.

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Lysosome and invader, now packaged in a phagosome, are drawn together and fuse.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive