Premium
Mitochondria and pathogen immunity: from killer to firestarter
Author(s) -
Riley Joel S,
Tait Stephen WG
Publication year - 2019
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.2019102325
Subject(s) - biology , immunity , mitochondrion , pathogen , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , immune system
Serving as an innate defence mechanism, invading pathogens elicit a broad inflammatory response in cells. In this issue, Brokatzky et al (2019) report that pathogens can cause activation of BAX / BAK which permeabilises a limited number of mitochondria. Induction of DNA damage, or release of mt DNA , triggers STING ‐dependent pro‐inflammatory cytokine expression and secretion, revealing an unexpected role for the mitochondrial apoptotic machinery in immune defence.