SUMOylation and bacterial pathogens.

During infection, bacterial pathogens interfere with many different post-translational modifications of the host cell to promote their own survival and replication. By stimulating or counteracting host post-translational modifications, these pathogens may control locally and specifically the fate and function of host factors critical for the infection process. Besides phosphorylation or ubiquitylation, for which many examples of modulation by pathogens exist, a post-translational modification called SUMOylation was recently shown to be targeted by pathogenic bacteria.