title: Anchoring of bacterial effectors to host membranes through host-mediated lipidation by prenylation: a common paradigm.
abstract: Post-translational lipidation by prenylation of the CaaX-box C-terminal motif in eukaryotic proteins facilitates anchoring of hydrophilic proteins, such as Ras and Rab, to membranes. A large cadre of bacterial effectors injected into host cells is anchored to host membranes by unknown mechanisms. As already documented for Legionella and Salmonella, we propose a common paradigm of microbial exploitation of the host prenylation machinery for anchoring of injected effectors to host membranes. This is supported by numerous potential microbial CaaX-box-containing proteins identified using refined bioinformatic tools. We also propose utilization of the CaaX motif as a membrane-targeting tag for proteins expressed in eukaryotic cells to facilitate deciphering of biological function.
authors: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
authors: Tasneem
authors: T
authors: Al-Quadan
authors: Christopher T
authors: CT
authors: Price
authors: Nir
authors: N
authors: London
authors: Ora
authors: O
authors: Schueler-Furman
authors: Yousef
authors: Y
authors: AbuKwaik
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007875:Legionella / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D054876:Prenylation; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D012475:Salmonella / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors