Premium
Shigella hacks host immune responses by reprogramming the host epigenome
Author(s) -
Ashida Hiroshi,
Sasakawa Chihiro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.15252/embj.201489934
Subject(s) - biology , epigenome , immune system , virulence , host (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , gene expression , dna methylation
Bacterial pathogens alter host transcriptional programs to promote infection. Shigella OspF is an essential virulence protein with a unique phosphothreonine lyase activity. A new study in The EMBO Journal (Harouz et al , [Harouz H, 2014]) reveals a novel function of OspF: targeting of heterochromatin protein 1γ ( HP 1γ) and downregulation of a subset of immune genes. These results illustrate how bacterial pathogens exploit epigenetic modifications to counteract host immune responses.