Sumoylation as an Integral Mechanism in Bacterial Infection and Disease Progression

Post translational modification pathways regulate fundamental processes of cells and thus govern vital functions. Among these, particularly the modification with Small Ubiquitin-like Modifiers (SUMO) is being recognized as a pathway crucial for cell homeostasis and health. Understandably, bacterial pathogens intervene with the SUMO pathway of the host for ensuring successful infection. Among the bacterial pathogens known to target host sumoylation varied points of intervention are utilized. Majority of them including Salmonella Typhimurium, Shigella flexneri and Listeria monocytogenes target the E2 conjugating enzyme Ubc9. While others, such as Xanthomonase compestris, target the desumoylation machineries mimicking cysteine protease activity. Still others such as Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum utilize host SUMO-machinery for sumoylating their own effectors. Together such changes lead to modulation of host proteome and transcriptome thereby leading to major alterations in signal transduction that favor invasion and bacterial multiplication. Such interplay between bacterial pathogens and host sumoylation has added a new dimension to host-pathogen biology and its understanding could be vital for developing potential therapeutic intervention strategies.