A bacterial effector protein promotes nuclear translocation of Stat3 to induce IL-10.

The multifunctional Yersinia effector YopM inhibits effector triggered immunity and increases production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-10 (IL-10) to suppress the host immune response. Previously it was shown that YopM induces IL-10 gene expression by elevating phosphorylation of the serine-threonine kinase RSK1 in the nucleus of human macrophages. Using transcriptomics, we found that YopM strongly affects expression of genes belonging to the JAK-STAT signaling pathway.

FoxP3 forkhead dimer: Don't swap me now.

FoxP3 is critical for regulatory T cell function and, thus, overall immune homeostasis. In this issue of Immunity, Leng et al. reveal how FoxP3 achieves specific recognition of DNA and functional specialization by adopting a head-to-head domain conformation.

Yersinia remodels epigenetic histone modifications in human macrophages.

Various pathogens systematically reprogram gene expression in macrophages, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. We investigated whether the enteropathogen Yersinia enterocolitica alters chromatin states to reprogram gene expression in primary human macrophages. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) seq analyses showed that pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) induced up- or down-regulation of histone modifications (HMod) at approximately 14500 loci in promoters and enhancers.

The structure of human SFPQ reveals a coiled-coil mediated polymer essential for functional aggregation in gene regulation.

SFPQ, (a.k.a.