1. Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA
2. Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA

Correspondence to: Michael K. Rosen¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.K.R. (Email: michael.rosen@utsouthwestern.edu).

Abstract

During infection, enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) takes over the actin cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells by injecting the EspF_U protein into the host cytoplasm^{1, 2}. EspF_U controls actin by activating members of the Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) family^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. Here we show that EspF_U binds to the autoinhibitory GTPase binding domain (GBD) in WASP proteins and displaces it from the activity-bearing VCA domain (for verprolin homology, central hydrophobic and acidic regions). This interaction potently activates WASP and neural (N)-WASP in vitro and induces localized actin assembly in cells. In the solution structure of the GBD–EspF_U complex, EspF_U forms an amphipathic helix that binds the GBD, mimicking interactions of the VCA domain in autoinhibited WASP. Thus, EspF_U activates WASP by competing directly for the VCA binding site on the GBD. This mechanism is distinct from that used by the eukaryotic activators Cdc42 and SH2 domains, which globally destabilize the GBD fold to release the VCA^{6, 7, 8}. Such diversity of mechanism in WASP proteins is distinct from other multimodular systems, and may result from the intrinsically unstructured nature of the isolated GBD and VCA elements. The structural incompatibility of the GBD complexes with EspF_U and Cdc42/SH2, plus high-affinity EspF_U binding, enable EHEC to hijack the eukaryotic cytoskeletal machinery effectively.

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