{
  "abstract": "Bacterial pathogens have adapted secreted effector proteins that hijack host ubiquitination to gain control over host responses. These effectors can exhibit, for example, E3 ligase or deubiquitinase activities, often without any homology to eukaryotic regulators. Such convergence in function poses a challenge to the discovery of additional ubiquitin-targeted virulence factors. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for example, is a pervasive opportunistic pathogen with numerous mechanisms of virulence, yet no described E3 ligases or deubiquitinases. We have developed a workflow to functionally screen natively secreted bacterial effectors for ubiquitin regulatory activities. After benchmarking this approach on Salmonella Typhimurium, Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, and Shigella flexneri, we identified a cryptic E3 ligase secreted by P. aeruginosa, which we have termed Pseudomonas Ub ligase 1 (PUL-1). PUL-1 resembles none of the other E3 ligases previously established in or outside of the eukaryotic system. Importantly, in an animal model of P. aeruginosa infection, PUL-1 ligase activity plays an important role in regulating virulence. Thus, functional identification of ubiquitin-targeted effectors can expand our appreciation of ubiquitin regulation during bacterial pathogenesis.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA",
    "Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA USA",
    "Department of Biosciences, Rice University, Houston, TX USA",
    "Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands",
    "Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Cameron G Roberts",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0115-7013"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Supender Kaur"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shun-Je Bhark"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Aaron J Ogden"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Michael E Divine"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gus D Warren",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4822-464X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Donghoon Kang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Natalia V Kirienko",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1537-4967"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Paul P Geurink",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1849-1111"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Monique P C Mulder"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ernesto S Nakayasu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4056-2695"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jason E McDermott"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Joshua N Adkins"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alejandro Aballay"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan N Pruneda",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0304-4418"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7cfqwn0gg5t0.bib",
  "cited_by": 2,
  "doi": "10.1038/s44318-026-00917-7",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13728172/",
  "id": "f7cfqwn0gg5t0",
  "issns": [
    "0261-4189",
    "1460-2075"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44318-026-00917-7",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214550171",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13728172",
  "pmid": "42806160",
  "published": "2026-09-28",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7cfqwn0gg5t0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-06T12:23:54Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13728172",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44318-026-00917-7"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A functional screen for bacterial ubiquitin regulation identifies an unusual Pseudomonas aeruginosa E3 ligase",
  "title_text": "A functional screen for bacterial ubiquitin regulation identifies an unusual Pseudomonas aeruginosa E3 ligase",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T12:21:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7cfqwn0gg5t0",
  "venue": "The EMBO Journal",
  "versions": []
}