Listeria monocytogenes ActA is a key player in evading autophagic recognition

Autophagy. 2009 Nov;5(8):1220-1. doi: 10.4161/auto.5.8.10177. Epub 2009 Nov 26.

Abstract

Autophagy is a pivotal bulk degradation system that eliminates undesirable molecules, damaged organelles, and misfolded protein aggregates in response to diverse stimuli, including infection. Autophagy acts to limit intracellular microbial growth but intracellular pathogens have evolved strategies to subvert host autophagic responses for their survival. We found that Listeria monocytogenes ActA, a surface protein required for actin polymerization and actin-based bacterial motility, plays a pivotal role in evading autophagy, but in a manner independent of bacterial motility. We show that L. monocytogenes exploits the biomimetic property of ActA to camouflage itself with host proteins comprised of Ena/VASP and the Arp2/3 complex, thereby escaping recognition by autophagy (Fig. 1).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Autophagy*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cell Line
  • Dogs
  • Fibroblasts / cytology
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism
  • Fibroblasts / microbiology
  • Listeria monocytogenes / cytology*
  • Listeria monocytogenes / metabolism*
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Models, Biological
  • Mutant Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Mutant Proteins
  • actA protein, Listeria monocytogenes