The rickettsia surface cell antigen 4 applies mimicry to bind to and activate vinculin.
Park, H., Lee, J.H., Gouin, E., Cossart, P., Izard, T.(2011) J Biol Chem 286: 35096-35103
- PubMed: 21841197 
- DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M111.263855
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
3TJ5, 3TJ6 - PubMed Abstract: 
Pathogenic Rickettsia species cause high morbidity and mortality, especially R. prowazekii, the causative agent of typhus. Like many intracellular pathogens, Rickettsia exploit the cytoskeleton to enter and spread within the host cell. Here we report that the cell surface antigen sca4 of Rickettsia co-localizes with vinculin in cells at sites of focal adhesions in sca4-transfected cells and that sca4 binds to and activates vinculin through two vinculin binding sites (VBSs) that are conserved across all Rickettsia ...