Bacterial outer membrane vesicles trigger pre-activation of a xenophagic response via AMPK

Macroautophagy/autophagy is a conserved degradative pathway that host cells use to deal with invading pathogens. Despite significant overlap with starvation-induced autophagy, the early signaling that potentiates anti-bacterial autophagy is still unclear. Here we report AMPK, an upstream kinase regulating starvation-mediated autophagy induction, is activated in response to bacterial infection. AMPK inhibits MTORC1, an autophagy repressor, and activates autophagic ULK1 and PIK3C3/VPS34 complexes. Although AMPK-mediated inhibition of MTORC1 is not accompanied by the induction of bulk autophagy, AMPK regulation is critical for selectively targeting the bacteria for degradation. Moreover, AMPK signaling is triggered by the detection of bacteria-derived outer membrane vesicles and does not require bacterial invasion. Together, these data characterize and highlight the significance of AMPK signaling in priming the autophagic response to bacterial infection. Abbreviations: AMPK: AMP-activated protein kinase; MTORC1: MTOR complex 1; ULK1: Unc-51 like kinase 1; PIK3C3/VPS34: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3.