The Yersinia YopE and YopH type III effector proteins enhance bacterial proliferation following contact with eukaryotic cells

Background  

Several bacterial pathogens express antihost factors that likely decrease both their maximal growth rate (due to metabolic costs) as well as their mortality rate (by neutralizing host defenses). The pathogenic yersiniae make a huge metabolic investment expressing virulence proteins (referred to as Yops) that are directly injected into eukaryotic cells and that modulate host defense responses such as phagocytosis and stress-activated signaling pathways. Although host-cell contact enhanced Yop expression as well as the cellular activities of several Yops have recently been described, a clear link between these phenomena and bacterial survival and/or proliferation remains to be established