Project Summary
Intracellular bacterial pathogens modulate host cell functions to generate intracellular niches that
promote their survival, proliferation and persistence within their host. Determining the mechanisms used
to create these niches is critical to understanding their pathogenesis. Many intracellular bacteria of public
health concern exploit the host cell's secretory pathway, specifically the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), to
support biogenesis of their replicative niche and intracellular growth, emphasizing the importance of this
organelle in pathogenesis. Bacteria of the genus Brucella, the causative agents of the worldwide
zoonosis brucellosis, undergo an intracellular cycle that culminates in the biogenesis of a replication-
permissive Brucella-containing vacuole (rBCV) derived from the ER, ensuring their long-term survival
and proliferation. rBCV biogenesis invokes functions of the host secretory pathway at the ER interface
and requires the bacterium's VirB Type IV secretion system (T4SS), via delivery of effector proteins that
presumably modulate various ER functions. Despite the established role of early secretory trafficking in
the Brucella infectious cycle, whether and how Brucella exploits additional ER functions remains a
knowledge gap in our understanding of its pathogenesis. We have recently identified a series of T4SS
effectors, among which BspA contributes to rBCV biogenesis and bacterial replication and binds the host
ER-associated degradation (ERAD) E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH6/TEB4, suggesting it impacts the ERAD
pathway. Interestingly, pharmacological interference with ERAD, a central component of ER
homeostasis, enhances replication of Brucella, suggesting that this pathway is deleterious to the
bacterium's infectious cycle and possibly targeted by BspA. Here we will test the hypothesis that the
Brucella T4SS effector BspA interacts with MARCH6 to interfere with ERAD functions and promote rBCV
biogenesis and bacterial replication. First, we will use molecular and cellular approaches to elucidate the
role the ERAD pathway plays in the Brucella infectious cycle and determine whether Brucella modulates
it. Second, we will use various cellular and biochemical approaches to characterize the mode of action of
the Brucella T4SS effector BspA on MARCH6 and elucidate the molecular basis of its contribution to
rBCV biogenesis and Brucella replication. The proposed studies will likely uncover a new role of ERAD in
bacterial pathogenesis, define the mode of action of a Brucella T4SS effector, and likely generate a new
paradigm of pathogen interactions with the ER, a host cellular compartment essential to many
intracellular microbes.