The Coxiella burnetii secreted protein kinase CstK influences vacuole development and interacts with the GTPase-activating protein TBC1D5

Coxiella burnetii is the etiological agent of the emerging zoonosis Q fever. Crucial to the pathogenesis of this intracellular pathogen is the secretion of bacterial effectors into host cells by a Type 4b Secretion System (T4SS), to subvert host cell membrane trafficking, leading to the biogenesis of a parasitophorous vacuole allowing intracellular replication. The characterization of prokaryotic Serine/Threonine Protein Kinases (STPKs) in bacterial pathogens is emerging as an important strategy to better understand host-pathogen interactions. In this study, we investigated CstK (for Coxiella Ser/Thr kinase), a bacterial protein kinase identified in C. burnetii by in silico analysis. Here, we demonstrated that this putative protein kinase undergoes autophosphorylation on Ser, Thr, and Tyr residues, and phosphorylates a classical eukaryotic protein kinase substrate in vitro. This dual Ser/Thr and Tyr kinase activity is similarly observed for eukaryotic dual specificity Tyr phosphorylation-regulated kinase class. CstK is translocated during infections and localizes at Coxiella-containing vacuoles (CCVs). Moreover, a C. burnetii mutant strain overexpressing CstK displays a severe CCVs development phenotype, suggesting a finely tuned regulation by the bacterial kinase during infection. Protein-protein interaction studies identified the Rab7-GTPase activating protein (GAP) TBC1D5 as a candidate CstK-specific host target, suggesting a role for this eukaryotic GAP in Coxiella infections. Indeed, CstK colocalizes with TBC1D5 in non-infected cells, and TBC1D5 is recruited at CCVs during infection. Accordingly, depletion of TBC1D5 from infected cells significantly affects CCVs development. Our results indicate that CstK has a critical role during infection as a bacterial effector protein that interacts with host proteins to facilitate vacuole biogenesis and intracellular replication.