The innate immune response to lipopolysaccharide is essential for host defense against Gram-negative bacteria. In response to bacterial infection, the TLR4/MD-2 complex that is expressed on the surface of macrophages, monocytes, dendritic, and epithelial cells senses picomolar concentrations of endotoxic LPS and triggers the production of various pro-inflammatory mediators. In addition, LPS from extracellular bacteria which is either endocytosed or transfected into the cytosol of host cells or cytosolic LPS produced by intracellular bacteria is recognized by cytosolic proteases caspase-4/11 and hosts guanylate binding proteins that are involved in the assembly and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. All these events result in the initiation of pro-inflammatory signaling cascades directed at bacterial eradication. However, TLR4-mediated signaling and caspase-4/11-induced pyroptosis are largely involved in the pathogenesis of chronic and acute inflammation. Both extra- and intracellular LPS receptors—TLR4/MD-2 complex and caspase-4/11, respectively—are able to directly bind the lipid A motif of LPS. Whereas the structural basis of lipid A recognition by the TLR4 complex is profoundly studied and well understood, the atomic mechanism of LPS/lipid A interaction with caspase-4/11 is largely unknown. Here we describe the LPS-induced TLR4 and caspase-4/11 mediated signaling pathways and their cross-talk and scrutinize specific structural features of the lipid A motif of diverse LPS variants that have been reported to activate caspase-4/11 or to induce caspase-4/11 mediated activation of NLRP3 inflammasome (either upon transfection of LPSin vitroor upon infection of cell cultures with intracellular bacteria or by LPS as a component of the outer membrane vesicles). Generally, inflammatory caspases show rather similar structural requirements as the TLR4/MD-2 complex, so that a “basic” hexaacylated bisphosphorylated lipid A architecture is sufficient for activation. However, caspase-4/11 can sense and respond to much broader variety of lipid A variants compared to the very “narrow” specificity of TLR4/MD-2 complex as far as the number and the length of lipid chains attached at the diglucosamine backbone of lipid A is concerned. Besides, modification of the lipid A phosphate groups with positively charged appendages such as phosphoethanolamine or aminoarabinose could be essential for the interaction of lipid A/LPS with inflammatory caspases and related proteins.

The steps involved in the biosynthesis of the ADP- l - glycero -β- d - manno- heptose (ADP- l -β- d -heptose) precursor of the inner core lipopolysaccharide (LPS) have not been completely elucidated. In this work, we have purified the enzymes involved in catalyzing the intermediate steps leading to the synthesis of ADP- d -β- d -heptose and have biochemically characterized the reaction products by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography. We have also constructed a deletion in a novel gene, gmhB (formerly yaeD ), which results in the formation of an altered LPS core. This mutation confirms that the GmhB protein is required for the formation of ADP- d -β- d -heptose. Our results demonstrate that the synthesis of ADP- d -β- d -heptose in Escherichia coli requires three proteins, GmhA (sedoheptulose 7-phosphate isomerase), HldE (bifunctional d -β- d -heptose 7-phosphate kinase/ d -β- d -heptose 1-phosphate adenylyltransferase), and GmhB ( d , d -heptose 1,7-bisphosphate phosphatase), as well as ATP and the ketose phosphate precursor sedoheptulose 7-phosphate. A previously characterized epimerase, formerly named WaaD (RfaD) and now renamed HldD, completes the pathway to form the ADP- l -β- d -heptose precursor utilized in the assembly of inner core LPS.

Activation of transcription factor NF-κB is a hallmark of infection with the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori, associated with inflammation and carcinogenesis. Genome-wide RNAi screening revealed numerous host factors involved in H. pylori-, but not IL-1β- and TNF-α-dependent NF-κB regulation. Pathway analysis including CRISPR/Cas9-knockout and recombinant protein technology, immunofluorescence microscopy, immunoblotting, mass spectrometry, and mutant H. pylori strains identified the H. pylori metabolite D-glycero-β-D-manno-heptose 1,7-bisphosphate (βHBP) as a cagPAI type IV secretion system (T4SS)-dependent effector of NF-κB activation in infected cells. Upon pathogen-host cell contact, TIFA forms large complexes (TIFAsomes) including interacting host factors, such as TRAF2. NF-κB activation, TIFA phosphorylation, and TIFAsome formation depend on a functional ALPK1 kinase, highlighting the ALPK1-TIFA axis as a core innate immune pathway. ALPK1-TIFA-mediated NF-κB activation was independent of CagA protein translocation, indicating that CagA translocation and HBP delivery to host cells are distinct features of the pathogen's T4SS.