Abstract
EspF
U, a protein secreted by pathogenic enterohaemorrhagic
E. coli (EHEC), activates N-WASp/WASp to induce actin pedestal formation in host cells. Two recent papers in
Nature show that EspF
U exploits a WASp activation strategy so extreme that it may effectively sequester WASp, blinding it to both autoinhibition and cellular regulation.