TY  - JOUR
A1  - Yang, Tao
A1  - Heydarian, Motaharehsadat
A1  - Kozjak-Pavlovic, Vera
A1  - Urban, Manuela
A1  - Harbottle, Richard P.
A1  - Rudel, Thomas
T1  - Folliculin Controls the Intracellular Survival and Trans-Epithelial Passage of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
JF  - Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
N2  - Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a Gram-negative obligate human pathogenic bacterium, infects human epithelial cells and causes sexually transmitted diseases. Emerging multi-antibiotic resistant gonococci and increasing numbers of infections complicate the treatment of infected patients. Here, we used an shRNA library screen and next-generation sequencing to identify factors involved in epithelial cell infection. Folliculin (FLCN), a 64 kDa protein with a tumor repressor function was identified as a novel host factor important for N. gonorrhoeae survival after uptake. We further determined that FLCN did not affect N. gonorrhoeae adherence and invasion but was essential for its survival in the cells by modulating autophagy. In addition, FLCN was also required to maintain cell to cell contacts in the epithelial layer. In an infection model with polarized cells, FLCN inhibited the polarized localization of E-cadherin and the transcytosis of gonococci across polarized epithelial cells. In conclusion, we demonstrate here the connection between FLCN and bacterial infection and in particular the role of FLCN in the intracellular survival and transcytosis of gonococci across polarized epithelial cell layers.
KW  - gonococcal invasion
KW  - folliculin
KW  - autophagy
KW  - polarized epithelium
KW  - polarized cell culture
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-211372
SN  - 2235-2988
VL  - 10
IS  - 422
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kunz, Tobias C.
A1  - Kozjak-Pavlovic, Vera
T1  - Diverse facets of sphingolipid involvement in bacterial infections
JF  - Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
N2  - Sphingolipids are constituents of the cell membrane that perform various tasks as structural elements and signaling molecules, in addition to regulating many important cellular processes, such as apoptosis and autophagy. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that sphingolipids and sphingolipid signaling play a vital role in infection processes. In many cases the attachment and uptake of pathogenic bacteria, as well as bacterial development and survival within the host cell depend on sphingolipids. In addition, sphingolipids can serve as antimicrobials, inhibiting bacterial growth and formation of biofilms. This review will give an overview of our current information about these various aspects of sphingolipid involvement in bacterial infections.
KW  - infection
KW  - pathogenic bacteria
KW  - sphingolipids
KW  - ceramide
KW  - autophagy
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201757
VL  - 7
IS  - 203
ER  -