[Roles of phosphatases in pathogen infection: a review]

Abstract

Phosphatases play a key role not only in cell physiological functions of an organism, but also in host-pathogen interactions. Many studies demonstrated that some Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria could evade host immunity and promote pathogenicity by injecting phosphatases into host cells through type III secretion system. However, there were few reports about pathogenic fungi evading the immunity of hosts. Our researches indicated that the entomogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae could dephosphorylate the signal transduction substance of locust humoral immunity specifically in vitro by secreting extracellular protein tyrosine phosphatase, which implied that the fungus might interfere with the immune defense of locust. To provide reference for further studies of the functions of phosphatases, we reviewed the types of phosphatases and their roles in pathogen infection.