Shigella hacks host immune responses by reprogramming the host epigenome.

Bacterial pathogens alter host transcriptional programs to promote infection. Shigella OspF is an essential virulence protein with a unique phosphothreonine lyase activity. A new study in The EMBO Journal (Harouz et al, 2014) reveals a novel function of OspF: targeting of heterochromatin protein 1γ (HP1γ) and downregulation of a subset of immune genes. These results illustrate how bacterial pathogens exploit epigenetic modifications to counteract host immune responses.