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University of Cambridge

The ubiquitin coat of cytosol-invading bacteria

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Cytosol-invading Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium are labelled with a ubiquitin coat, which serves the dual purpose of targeting bacteria to autophagy-mediated degradation and locally inducing pro-inflammatory signalling. Importantly, the chain types and ubiquitylated substrates that constitute this ubiquitin coat are still poorly characterised. Here, I show that the ubiquitin coat of Salmonella is highly dynamic and undergoes significant compositional changes over the course of an infection. I also identify a novel ubiquitylated substrate on the bacterial surface. In contrast to Salmonella Typhimurium, a bacterium ill-adapted to cytosolic survival, Shigella flexneri is a professional cytosol-dwelling pathogen and evades targeting by host E3 ligases. In this work, I developed SPLINT Labelling, a novel tool to artificially induce ubiquitylation of S. flexneri by enforcing the recruitment of a Salmonella-targeting E3 ligase to the surface of Shigella. I demonstrate that SPLINT Labelling with LUBAC induces a M1-linked ubiquitin coat on S. flexneri and mediates the recruitment of the downstream antibacterial effectors P62, OPTINEURIN, NEMO and LC3. Nevertheless, SPLINT Labelling fails to inhibit proliferation of cytosolic S. flexneri. Overall, this work further defines the role of ubiquitylation for the detection and restriction of two different cytosol-invading pathogens.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Werner, Emma Ilse
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Randow, Felix

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
DOI dc:identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40640
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/293501

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Cambridge University
Base URL
api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Werner, Emma Ilse. The ubiquitin coat of cytosol-invading bacteria. Doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40640