Host glutathione is required for Rickettsia parkeri cell division and intracellular survival.

ABSTRACT: Intracellular bacteria rely on eukaryotic metabolites for their fitness and pathogenesis. Yet, the mechanisms of how host metabolites promote bacterial physiology and immune evasion are often unclear. Here, we employed obligate cytosolic Rickettsia parkeri, which parasitizes over fifty host metabolites, to investigate bacterial utilization of host glutathione (GSH). We observed that GSH depletion impaired R. parkeri intracellular survival. Super-resolution microscopy revealed that GSH depletion caused bacterial chaining in the host cytosol, prohibiting proper actin-based motility and cell-to-cell spread. GSH was especially critical for bacterial survival in primary macrophages, where it enabled R. parkeri to evade ubiquitylation and antibacterial autophagy. Cell division and survival defec

SUBMITTER: Sun H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12216324 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature