ArticleMicrobiology (Reading, England)2011
A unique homologue of the eukaryotic protein-modifier ubiquitin present in the bacterium Bacteroides fragilis, a predominant resident of the human gastrointestinal tract.
Article in Microbiology (Reading, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dynamics of phage-host interactions in Bacteroides fragilis resolved by single-cell transcriptomics.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Interbacterial warfare in the human gut: insights from Bacteroidales' perspective.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- Molecular mimicry in the pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic diseases.Journal of translational autoimmunity · 2025Review
- Combinatorial phenotypic landscape enables bacterial resistance to phage infection.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Almost 50 Years of Monomeric Extracellular Ubiquitin (eUb).Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Bacteroides fragilis ubiquitin homologue drives intraspecies bacterial competition in the gut microbiome.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Antigenic mimicry of ubiquitin by the gut bacterium Bacteroides fragilis: a potential link with autoimmune disease.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2018Article
- Ubiquitin, SUMO, and NEDD8: Key Targets of Bacterial Pathogens.Trends in cell biology · 2018Review
- The Human Gut Virome in Hypertension.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- The Human Gut Microbiome - A Potential Controller of Wellness and Disease.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Review
- Gut SymbiontmBio · 2017Article
- Article
- The microbiome and innate immunity.Nature · 2016Review
- Dysbiosis May Trigger Autoimmune Diseases via Inappropriate Post-Translational Modification of Host Proteins.Frontiers in microbiology · 2016Article
- Analysis of the outer membrane proteome and secretome of Bacteroides fragilis reveals a multiplicity of secretion mechanisms.PloS one · 2015Article
- The Bfp60 surface adhesin is an extracellular matrix and plasminogen protein interacting in Bacteroides fragilis.International journal of medical microbiology : IJMM · 2013Article
- Discerning the role of Bacteroides fragilis in celiac disease pathogenesis.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2012Article
- Crossing the eukaryote-prokaryote divide: A ubiquitin homolog in the human commensal bacterium Bacteroides fragilis.Mobile genetic elements · 2012Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
In the complete genome sequences of Bacteroides fragilis NCTC9343 and 638R, we have discovered a gene, ubb, the product of which has 63 % identity to human ubiquitin and cross-reacts with antibodies raised against bovine ubiquitin. The sequence of ubb is closest in identity (76 %) to the ubiquitin gene from a migratory grasshopper entomopoxvirus, suggesting acquisition by inter-kingdom horizontal gene transfer. We have screened clinical isolates of B. fragilis from diverse geographical regions and found that ubb is present in some, but not all, strains. The gene is transcribed and the mRNA is translated in B. fragilis, but deletion of ubb did not have a detrimental effect on growth. BfUbb has a predicted signal sequence; both full-length and processed forms were detected in whole-cell extracts, while the processed form was found in concentrated culture supernatants. Purified recombinant BfUbb inhibited in vitro ubiquitination and was able to covalently bind the human E1 activating enzyme, suggesting it could act as a suicide substrate in vivo. B. fragilis is one of the predominant members of the normal human gastrointestinal microbiota with estimates of up to >10¹¹ cells per g faeces by culture. These data indicate that the gastro-intestinal tract of some individuals could contain a significant amount of aberrant ubiquitin with the potential to inappropriately activate the host immune system and/or interfere with eukaryotic ubiquitin activity. This discovery could have profound implications in relation to our understanding of human diseases such as inflammatory bowel and autoimmune diseases.
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