Pathogens reWritE Rho's rules.
Many bacterial pathogens use a specialized "type III" secretion system to deliver virulence effector proteins into host mammalian cells. In this issue of Cell, Alto et al. (2006) describe a new family of effectors that share a WxxxE sequence motif. These effectors directly stimulate host signaling pathways by mimicking activated Ras-like cellular GTPases.
Hayward
Richard D
RD
University of Cambridge, Department of Pathology, Cambridge CB2 1QP, UK.
Koronakis
Vassilis
V
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000502:physiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018716:Molecular Mimicry / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000502:physiology; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018631:ras Proteins