STING COPII ER Export Trafficking and Signaling Primed by Phosphorylation Switches (Adv. Sci. 36/2025)

STING Trafficking via Phosphorylated COPII Sorting Motifs The long-standing mystery in the field has been why STING's downstream signaling is so tightly coupled to its ER export trafficking. In their Research Article (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202503660), Wenfu Ma, Anlong Xu, and colleagues uncover that STING trafficking is regulated by two novel phosphorylated COPII-sorting motifs, which restrict IRF3 signal activation to the ERGIC or cis-Golgi complex. This image captures the essence of this discovery: When the beacon fire blazes - announcing invasion by DNA viruses or bacterial pathogens - the activated STING arms itself and rides forth on warhorse-drawn chariots to battle the invaders.