The C. burnetii T4SS effector protein AnkG hijacks the 7SK small nuclear riboprotein complex for reprogramming host cell transcription. The C. burnetii T4SS effector protein AnkG hijacks the 7SK small nuclear riboprotein complex for reprogramming host cell transcription

In this study, we analyzed the molecular activity of the anti-apoptotic T4SS effector protein AnkG (CBU0781) to understand how C. burnetii manipulates host cell viability. We demonstrate by RNA-immunoprecipitation that AnkG binds to the host cell 7SK snRNA, an important regulator of the positive transcription elongation factor P-TEFb. Consistent with the documented function of released P-TEFb in RNA Pol II pause release, RNA sequencing experiments confirmed AnkG-mediated transcriptional reprogramming and showed that expression of genes involved in apoptosis, trafficking, and transcription is influenced by AnkG. Overall design: RNA-Seq of HEK293T cells transfected with either GFP-NLS-AnkG or GFP alone and RIP-Seq of HEK293T cells transfected GFP-NLS-AnkG