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Cell Host Microbe,
2012]
The mechanisms by which epithelial cells distinguish pathogens from commensal microbes have long puzzled us. Now, McEwan etal. (2012) and Dunbar etal. (2012), in this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, demonstrate that inC.elegans, microbial toxin-induced inhibition of host cellular functions, especially blockade ofprotein translation, activates the effector-triggered immune response dependent on the transcription factor ZIP-2.