Immune silencing by a lipid virulence factor of Staphylococcus.

Pathogen recognition is key to immunity, incentivizing pathogens to evolve mechanisms to prevent this. A new study by Lathram and Lages et al. shows that Staphylococcus aureus manipulates this process in a new way – by the transformation of the host’s own lipids into forms that interfere with pathogen detection.