Bacterial Prison Break: A Host Protein Mimic Paves the Way

The intracellular pathogen Francisella secretes effector proteins inside host cells; however, their functions have remained unclear. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe , Ledvina et al. (2018) elucidate the role of one such effector, OpiA, to be a bacterial phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase that alters phagosomal trafficking and can promote intracellular bacterial replication.