�y��vlog

Zhou et al. took an unbiased approach and screened a collection of Y. pseudotuberculosis genetic mutants to identify bacterial genes that are linked to NF-κB activation in response to infection.

The authors report slight differences in the way in which ADP-Hep and ADP-heptose 7-P bind to ALPK1, and use these differences to demonstrate why ADP-Hep and not HBP or ADP-heptose 7-P is the relevant ligand for ALPK1-mediated NF-κB activation, at least in Y. pseudotuberculosis infection.

In Y. pseudotuberculosis, this process requires the T3SS, although it is unclear whether ADP-Hep is actively transported or accidentally leaks through the T3SS, or whether it enters by the pores that the T3SS generates in the host-cell membrane.

Although Zhou et al. show that ADP-Hep is the relevant immune-triggering ligand for Y. pseudotuberculosis infections, it remains to be seen whether HBP is converted into ADP-heptose 7-P during other bacterial infections.

Zhou and colleagues studied human cells grown in vitro to try to identify pathways that activate NF-κB in response to infection by the bacterium Yersinia pseudotuberculosis.