Definition of "phagosome" [phagosome]

• A membrane-bound vesicle found in a cell by an inward folding of the cell membrane to hold foreign matter taken into the cell by phagocytosis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The environment in the phagosome of macrophages infected with the mutant differed from the environment of vacuoles with M. hominissuis wild-type in the concentration of zinc, manganese, calcium and potassium."
• "Based on the results, it was hypothesized that the phagosome environment and vacuole membrane of the wild-type bacterium might differ from the mutant."
• "This mutant, in contrast to the wild-type bacterium, was shown both to have impaired the ability to replicate within macrophages and to have prevented phagosome/lysosome fusion."