Mycobacterium tuberculosis suppresses innate immunity by coopting the host ubiquitin system.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis PtpA, a secreted tyrosine phosphatase essential for tuberculosis pathogenicity, could be an ideal target for a drug against tuberculosis, but its active-site inhibitors lack selectivity over human phosphatases. Here we found that PtpA suppressed innate immunity dependent on pathways of the kinases Jnk and p38 and the transcription factor NF-κB by exploiting host ubiquitin. Binding of PtpA to ubiquitin via a region with no homology to human proteins activated it to dephosphorylate phosphorylated Jnk and p38, leading to suppression of innate immunity. Furthermore, the host adaptor TAB3 mediated NF-κB signaling by sensing ubiquitin chains, and PtpA blocked this process by competitively binding the ubiquitin-interacting domain of TAB3. Our findings reveal how pathogens subvert innate immunity by coopting host ubiquitin and suggest a potential tuberculosis treatment via targeting of ubiquitin-PtpA interfaces.