{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T15:12:39Z","timestamp":1773673959698,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773446400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Central-guided Local Science and Technology Development Fund Project","award":["2025YD013"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025YD013"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32372973"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32372973"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32260870"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32260870"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Scientific and Technological Tackling Plan for Key Fields of the Corps","award":["2024AB034"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AB034"]}]},{"name":"Scientific and Technological Tackling Plan for Key Fields of the Corps","award":["2024AB035"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AB035"]}]},{"name":"Tianchi talent Project","award":["CZ004310"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CZ004310"]}]},{"name":"2024 Shihezi University high-level talent research project","award":["RCZK202460"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RCZK202460"]}]},{"name":"Young Innovative Talent Program","award":["CXPY202323"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CXPY202323"]}]},{"name":"Hu Yanghe City science and technology plan project","award":["2024C13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024C13"]}]},{"name":"Key Scientific and Technological Research Project of the Corps","award":["2025AB083"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025AB083"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Brucella is a neglected foodborne pathogen, which contaminates milk, dairy products, meat, and meat products of infected animals. However, the role of the Brucella putative effector (BPE) protein family, which relies on the type IV secretion system (T4SS) in Brucella abortus, remains unclear. We demonstrated that BPE159 mediates the regulation of host nuclei in autophagy. The host-interacting protein Eci1 was screened using yeast two-hybridization, molecular docking, and immunoprecipitation, and BPE159-deleted (\u0394BPE159) and complementary (\u0394BPE159-C) strains were constructed by homologous recombination. We evaluated their growth, survival, and replication and measured the expression of autophagy-related cytokine mRNAs in macrophages. BPE159 was localized in the nucleus of host cells and interacted with Eci1 to downregulate the expression of macrophage autophagy factors, thereby inhibiting host autophagy and enabling the persistence of Brucella. These findings highlight the critical role of BPE159 in mediating autophagy through Eci1 in host cells to promote Brucella survival in host cells.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14030663","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T13:32:07Z","timestamp":1773667927000},"page":"663","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Nuclear Localization of Effector BPE159: A Pivotal Mechanism for Intracellular Persistence of Brucella by Hampering Host Autophagy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Yidan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tingting","family":"Lyu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shengnan","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chunyan","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Liangbo","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhihua","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xia","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jia","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"E15","article-title":"Bichat guidelines for the clinical management of brucellosis and bioterrorism-related brucellosis","volume":"9","author":"Bossi","year":"2004","journal-title":"Euro Surveill."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2011.12.002","article-title":"Selective subversion of autophagy complexes facilitates completion of the Brucella intracellular cycle","volume":"11","author":"Starr","year":"2012","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.20506\/rst.32.1.2189","article-title":"Molecular characterisation of Brucella species","volume":"32","author":"Scholz","year":"2013","journal-title":"Rev. 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