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Coxiella burnetii effector CvpB modulates phosphoinositide metabolism for optimal vacuole development

Significance The biogenesis of a replicative vacuole is an essential step of Coxiella burnetii infections and involves the hijack of several host membrane trafficking pathways. Here we describe Coxiella vacuolar protein B (CvpB) as a Coxiella effector that interacts with phosphoinositides on host cell membranes and manipulates phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P] metabolism for optimal Coxiella-containing vacuole (CCV) development. This is achieved by perturbing the activity of the phosphatidylinositol 5-kinase PIKfyve, leading to an enrichment of PI(3)P on CCV membranes, which is required for the autophagy machinery to mediate CCV homotypic fusion. The importance of this process is highlighted by a homotypic fusion defect between CCVs in cells infected with CvpB Coxiella mutants, which translates into an attenuated virulence in the insect model Galleria mellonella. The Q fever bacterium Coxiella burnetii replicates inside host cells within a large Coxiella-containing vacuole (CCV) whose biogenesis relies on the Dot/Icm-dependent secretion of bacterial effectors. Several membrane trafficking pathways contribute membranes, proteins, and lipids for CCV biogenesis. These include the endocytic and autophagy pathways, which are characterized by phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P]-positive membranes. Here we show that the C. burnetii secreted effector Coxiella vacuolar protein B (CvpB) binds PI(3)P and phosphatidylserine (PS) on CCVs and early endosomal compartments and perturbs the activity of the phosphatidylinositol 5-kinase PIKfyve to manipulate PI(3)P metabolism. CvpB association to early endosome triggers vacuolation and clustering, leading to the channeling of large PI(3)P-positive membranes to CCVs for vacuole expansion. At CCVs, CvpB binding to early endosome- and autophagy-derived PI(3)P and the concomitant inhibition of PIKfyve favor the association of the autophagosomal machinery to CCVs for optimal homotypic fusion of the Coxiella-containing compartments. The importance of manipulating PI(3)P metabolism is highlighted by mutations in cvpB resulting in a multivacuolar phenotype, rescuable by gene complementation, indicative of a defect in CCV biogenesis. Using the insect model Galleria mellonella, we demonstrate the in vivo relevance of defective CCV biogenesis by highlighting an attenuated virulence phenotype associated with cvpB mutations.