The molecular mechanisms that govern thymocyte development and maturation are incompletely understood. The P21-activated kinase 2 (Pak2) is an effector for the Rho family GTPases Rac and Cdc42 that regulate actin cytoskeletal remodeling, but its role in the immune system remains poorly understood. In this study, we show that T-cell specific deletion of Pak2 gene in mice resulted in severe T cell lymphopenia accompanied by marked defects in development, maturation, and egress of thymocytes. Pak2 was required for pre-TCR β-selection and positive selection. Surprisingly, Pak2 deficiency in CD4 single positive thymocytes prevented functional maturation and reduced expression of S1P1 and KLF2. Mechanistically, Pak2 is required for actin cytoskeletal remodeling triggered by TCR. Failure to induce proper actin cytoskeletal remodeling impaired PLCγ1 and Erk1/2 signaling in the absence of Pak2, uncovering the critical function of Pak2 as an essential regulator that governs the actin cytoskeleton-dependent signaling to ensure normal thymocyte development and maturation.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02270.001

Legionella pneumophila, the primary agent of Legionnaires' disease, flourishes in both natural and man-made environments by growing in a wide variety of aquatic amoebae. Recently, we determined that the Cas2 protein of L. pneumophila promotes intracellular infection of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Hartmannella vermiformis, the two amoebae most commonly linked to cases of disease. The Cas2 family of proteins is best known for its role in the bacterial and archeal clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) system that constitutes a form of adaptive immunity against phage and plasmid. However, the infection event mediated by L. pneumophila Cas2 appeared to be distinct from this function, because cas2 mutants exhibited infectivity defects in the absence of added phage or plasmid and since mutants lacking the CRISPR array or any one of the other cas genes were not impaired in infection ability. We now report that the Cas2 protein of L. pneumophila has both RNase and DNase activities, with the RNase activity being more pronounced. By characterizing a catalytically deficient version of Cas2, we determined that nuclease activity is critical for promoting infection of amoebae. Also, introduction of Cas2, but not its catalytic mutant form, into a strain of L. pneumophila that naturally lacks a CRISPR-Cas locus caused that strain to be 40-to 80-fold more infective for amoebae, unequivocally demonstrating that Cas2 facilitates the infection process independently of any other component encoded within the CRISPR-Cas locus. Finally, a cas2 mutant was impaired for infection of Willaertia magna but not Naegleria lovaniensis, suggesting that Cas2 promotes infection of most but not all amoebal hosts. L egionella pneumophila is a Gram-negative, aquatic bacterium and the agent of a Legionnaires' disease pneumonia (1). The number of reported cases of Legionnaires' disease in the United States has more than tripled since 2001, with similar trends occurring in Canada and Europe (2). Humans acquire L. pneumophila mainly by inhaling contaminated water droplets from aerosolgenerating devices (3). In the lung, the bacterium infects resident macrophages (4). Amoebae are the major replicative niche for L. pneumophila in natural and man-made water systems (5-7). Indeed, L. pneumophila infects Ն20 species of amoebae encompassing the genera Acanthamoeba, Echinamoeba, Hartmannella, Naegleria, Vahlkampfia, and Willaertia (8). L. pneumophila bacteria in amoebae remain viable for long periods of time and are resistant to biocides (9, 10), and internalization by amoebae resuscitates viable-but-not-culturable legionellae (11,12). Also, amoebae may be part of the inoculum that initiates lung infection (3,13,14). Recently, we found that the Cas2 protein of L. pneumophila promotes infection of Acanthamoeba castellanii and Hartmannella vermiformis; i.e., although cas2 mutants grow normally in broth and macrophages, they exhibit a 1,000-fold reduced recovery from A. castellanii and a 20-fold defect i...

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