Aryl hydrocarbon receptor senses bacterial pigmented virulence factors and orchestrates anti-bacterial defenses (part 1)

ABSTRACT: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a highly conserved ligand-dependent transcription factor that senses environmental toxins and endogenous ligands, thereby inducing detoxifying enzymes and modulating immune cell differentiation and responses. We hypothesized that AhR not only evolved to sense pollutants from the environment, but also insults of microbial origin. We demonstrate that bacterial pigmented virulence factors, namely the phenazines pyocyanin and 1-hydroxyphenazine from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the naphthoquinone phthiocol from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are ligands of AhR. AhR activation leads to degradation of these virulence factors and regulated cytokine and chemokine production. The relevance of AhR to host defense is underlined by heightened susceptibility of AhR-deficient mice, both to P. aeruginosa and M. tuberculosis. Our data demonstrate that AhR senses distinct bacterial virulence factors and controls anti-bacterial responses. We provide evidence for a previously unidentified role for AhR as an intracellular pattern recognition receptor, and identify bacterial pigmented virulence factors as a new class of pathogen-associated molecular patterns.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE48130 | GEO | 2014/01/01

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA208973

REPOSITORIES: GEO