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Sci. Signal., 28 September 2010
Vol. 3, Issue 141, p. ec300
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.3141ec300]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Host-Pathogen Interactions Mr. Blebby

Stella M. Hurtley

Science, AAAS, Cambridge CB2 1LQ, UK

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, an important cause of contaminated fish–associated food poisoning, kills infected host cells within hours, using three sequential mechanisms: autophagy, cell rounding, and cell lysis. Broberg et al. now describe a molecular mechanism of a bacterial effector protein that facilitates cell lysis by disrupting a target involved in regulating membrane dynamics and the actin cytoskeleton. The Vibrio effector, VPA0450, causes target cell membrane blebbing. The protein acts as an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase and disrupts cytoskeletal binding sites on the inner surface of the plasma membrane of infected cells by hydrolyzing phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.

C. A. Broberg, L. Zhang, H. Gonzalez, M. A. Laskowski-Arce, K. Orth, A Vibrio effector protein is an inositol phosphatase and disrupts host cell membrane integrity. Science 329, 1660–1662 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: S. M. Hurtley, Mr. Blebby. Sci. Signal. 3, ec300 (2010).

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