A new study from the Institute of Food Research has uncovered a mechanism by which Salmonella bacteria organise the expression of genes required for infection.
Salmonella bacteria are the leading cause of food borne illness in the EU. Part of what makes them so successful is their ability to invade our bodies, overcoming our natural defences. Understanding how they do this could lead to new ways of preventing their invasion.
Most Salmonella infections result in gastroenteritis, when the bacteria invade the epithelial cells lining our gut. However, under certain conditions, Salmonella can subsequently cause a potentially lethal systemic typhoidal infection when they invade the underlying immune cells. The invasion of epithelial cells and immune cells are controlled by two separate gene clusters called Salmonella Pathogenicity Islands 1 and 2 (SPI1, SPI2) respectively.
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