Pathogens exploit several eukaryotic signaling pathways during an infection. They have evolved specific effectors and toxins to hijack host cell machinery for their own benefit. Signaling molecules are preferentially targeted by pathogens because they globally regulate many cellular processes. Both viruses and bacteria manipulate and control pathways that regulate host cell survival and shape, ...

Successful vacuolar pathogens have developed sophisticated strategies to hijack the endomembrane system of host cells, sabotage their signal transduction pathways, and evade antimicrobial responses. The protozoan parasite Leishmania, the causative agent of leishmaniases in humans, is particularly adept at transforming the macrophage into a hospitable host cell. Here, we describe how Leishmania ...

Viruses travel light. Most carry just their genetic material and a few tools to break into the cells of their hosts — after that, they hijack the host’s own machinery to manufacture thousands of copies of themselves. In recent decades, biologists have gained a clearer picture of just how this heist is pulled off. Many viruses, it turns out, suppress the messages that cells send to control their...