Silencing of the innate-immune response by a Coxiella burnetii eukaryotic-like effector protein

In a work published in PNAS (IF=9.35), the Matteo Bonazzi’s team “Cell Biology of Bacterial Infections” unveils the existence of new C. burnetii effector proteins with eukaryotic-like features (EUGENs).

One of these, NopA (for nucleolar protein A), localizes at nucleoli of infected cells and perturbs nucleocytoplasmic transport. In doing so, NopA reduces the nuclear levels of transcription factors involved in the innate immune sensing of pathogens and single-handedly down-modulates the expression of cytokines.

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