Shigella flexneri-Encoded E3 Ubiquitin Ligase IpaH2 Reveals Plakophilin-2 as a Host Restriction Factor for Sindbis Virus
Aaron Embry, Emily A. Rex, David F. Schad, Daniel M. Deng, Neal M. Alto, Don B. Gammon · 2026
Read Shigella flexneri-Encoded E3 Ubiquitin Ligase IpaH2 Reveals Plakophilin-2 as a Host Restriction Factor for Sindbis Virus by Aaron Embry, Emily A. Rex, David F. Schad, Daniel M. Deng, Neal M. Alto, Don B. Gammon (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13256859.txt.
Description
Aaron Embry and co-authors report in 2026 a screening strategy that uses bacterial effector proteins as probes to expose antiviral defenses in bat cells. The screen uncovers a new restriction factor for Sindbis virus. Mosquito-borne viruses cause growing disease burdens, and finding the host proteins that block them could seed new therapies.
One probe, the Shigella enzyme IpaH2, selectively boosted Sindbis virus infection across several mammalian cell lines, hinting that it disables a conserved defense. Chasing its targets identified two host factors: ABCF3, which restricted many viruses, and plakophilin-2, which specifically limited Sindbis virus. The work shows bacterial tools can reveal both broad and virus-specific immune defenses worth targeting in drug design.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Aaron Embry, Emily A. Rex, David F. Schad, Daniel M. Deng, Neal M. Alto, Don B. Gammon |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 40 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |