RIPK3 induces necroptosis by phosphorylating MLKL, which then induces plasma membrane rupture and necrotic cell death. In this issue, Sai et al. (2019. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201810014) show that RIPK3-MLKL signaling in epithelial cells promotes Listeria clearance by directly suppressing cytosolic bacterial replication, without activating cell death.
© 2019 Zhang and Balachandran.