A disulfide driven domain swap switches off the activity of Shigella IpaH9.8 E3 ligase.

We show that the monomeric form of Shigella IpaH9.8 E3 ligase catalyses the ubiquitination of human U2AF35 in vitro, providing a molecular mechanism for the observed in vivo effect. We further discover that under non-reducing conditions IpaH9.8 undergoes a domain swap driven by the formation of a disulfide bridge involving the catalytic cysteine and that this dimer is unable to catalyse the ubiquitination of U2AF35. The crystal structure of the domain-swapped dimer is presented. The redox inactivation of IpaH9.8 could be a mechanism of regulating the activity of the IpaH9.8 E3 ligase in response to cell damage so that the host cell in which the bacteria resides is maintained in a benign state suitable for bacterial survival.