Manipulation of Xenophagy: Pathogens Regulate Post-translationalModification of Host / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

ABSTRACT

Autophagy is a lysosomal-dependent catabolic pathway that is widely present in eukaryote andinvolved in multiple biological functions, such as cytodifferentiation, starvation tolerance and immunedefense. Specially, the autophagy process that recognizes and eliminates intracellular pathogens is definedas xenophagy, which is a vital way for immune cells to execute host defense. However, pathogens haveevolved several strategies to cope with xenophagy via distinct types of virulence factors (effectors, surfaceproteins, etc.). Studies have shown that the autophagy regulatory signals are sophisticated, which areprecisely directed by a variety of autophagy related proteins (ATG proteins). It has been proved that thekey steps of autophagy undergo extensive protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), such asphosphorylation/ dephosphorylation, and ubiquitination/ deubiquitination, etc. These modifications endowthe autophagy regulation with a high degree of dynamics and reversibility via affecting the structure, stability, activity and location of the proteins. Recently, some virulence factors were found to hijackPTMs of the ATG proteins and then affect host autophagy related pathways, thereby resisting xenophagyand promoting pathogens’ survival in the host cell. This review summarizes the current knowledge ofPTMs in xenophagy, especially the mechanisms that pathogens manipulate host xenophagy through PTMs, providing a guidance for exploring xenophagy intervention strategies and controlling infectious diseases.