Published 2017 | Version v1
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Bacterial effector NleL promotes enterohemorrhagic E. coli-induced attaching and effacing lesions by ubiquitylating and inactivating JNK

  • 1. Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 2. Donghua University
  • 3. University of California, Los Angeles
  • 4. Jilin University
  • 5. University of Chicago
  • 6. Northeast Agricultural University
  • 7. National Institute of Biological Sciences

Description

As a major diarrheagenic human pathogen, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) produce attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions, characterized by the formation of actin pedestals, on mammalian cells. A bacterial T3SS effector NleL from EHEC O157:H7 was recently shown to be a HECT-like E3 ligase in vitro, but its biological functions and host targets remain elusive. Here, we report that NleL is required to effectively promote EHEC-induced A/E lesions and bacterial infection. Furthermore, human c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases (JNKs) were identified as primary substrates of NleL. NleL-induced JNK ubiquitylation, particularly mono-ubiquitylation at the Lys 68 residue of JNK, impairs JNK's interaction with an upstream kinase MKK7, thus disrupting JNK phosphorylation and activation. This subsequently suppresses the transcriptional activity of activator protein-1 (AP-1), which modulates the formation of the EHEC-induced actin pedestals. Moreover, JNK knockdown or inhibition in host cells complements NleL deficiency in EHEC infection. Thus, we demonstrate that the effector protein NleL enhances the ability of EHEC to infect host cells by targeting host JNK, and elucidate an inhibitory role of ubiquitylation in regulating JNK phosphorylation.

Data availability

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1371/journal.ppat.1006534
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:6634

Funding

Chinese Academy of Sciences
Strategic Priority Research Program
National Science Foundation of China
award for national outstanding young scientists
National Science Foundation of China
award for national outstanding young scientists
National Science Foundation of China
award for national outstanding young scientists
Ministry of Science and Technology, China
2012CB910800
Ministry of Science and Technology, China
2013CB910900
National Institutes of Health
F30CA183528
Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Instrument Developing Project

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Biological Sciences Division
Department(s)
Ben May Department for Cancer Research