Legionella effector SetA as a general O-glucosyltransferase for eukaryotic proteins

The identification of host protein substrates is key to understanding effector glycosyltransferases secreted by pathogenic bacteria and to using them for glycoprotein engineering. Here we report a chemical method for tagging, enrichment, and site-specific proteomic profiling of effector-modified proteins in host cells. Using this method, we discover that Legionella effector SetA α-O-glucosylates various eukaryotic proteins by recognizing a S/T-X-L-P/G sequence motif, which can be exploited to site-specifically introduce O-glucose on recombinant proteins.