Endomembrane remodeling and dynamics in Salmonella infection

December 27, 2021

Salmonellae are bacteria that cause moderate to severe infections in humans, depending on the strain and the immune status of the infected host. These pathogens have the particularity of residing in the cells of the infected host. They are usually found in a vacuolar compartment that the bacteria shape with the help of effector proteins. Following invasion of a eukaryotic cell, the bacterial vacuole undergoes maturation characterized by changes in localization, composition and morphology. In particular, membrane tubules stretching over the microtubule cytoskeleton are formed from the bacterial vacuole. Although these tubules do not occur in all infected cells, they are functionally important and promote intracellular replication. This review focuses on the role and significance of membrane compartment remodeling observed in infected cells and the bacterial and host cell pathways involved.

Metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella infected macrophages and its modulation by iron availability and the mTOR pathway

November 14, 2019

This article shows that iron plays a critical role in both the immune response and metabolic reprogramming of macrophages during infection, influencing the TCA cycle and mTOR pathway, with implications for the growth of intracellular bacteria like Salmonella.

Two distinct penicillin binding proteins promote cell division in different Salmonella lifestyles

February 18, 2018

In this article, the authors comment on the study "A Specialized Peptidoglycan Synthase Promotes Salmonella Cell Division inside Host Cells" by Castanheira et al. (mBio, 2017), discussing insights in two distinct penicillin binding proteins that promote cell division in different Salmonella lifestyles.

Breaking the bilayer: OMV formation during environmental transitions

February 3, 2017

This article comments on work published by Bonnington & Kuehn (MBio, 2016), which shows how gram-negative bacteria maintain the barrier properties of the outer membrane (OM) in a wide array of physiological conditions despite their inability to degrade lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and protein material present in the outer leaflet of the OM.

Bacterial genotoxin functions as immune-modulator and promotes host survival

July 28, 2016

This article comments on work published by Del Bel Belluz et al. (PLoS Pathog, 2016), which demonstrated that the typhoid toxin of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi esembles an immune-modulatory molecule rather than a toxic agent.

Location, location, location. Salmonella senses ethanolamine to gauge distinct host environments and coordinate gene expression

January 18, 2016

This article comments on work published by Anderson and Kendell (PLoS Pathog, 2015), which demonstrates that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (Salmonella) exploits ethanolamine signaling to adapt to distinct host environments to precisely coordinate expression of genes encoding metabolism and virulence.

Complex regulation of the sirtuin-dependent reversible lysine acetylation system of Salmonella enterica

October 12, 2015

The extensive involvement of the reversible lysine acylation (RLA) system in metabolism has attracted the attention of investigators interested in understanding the fundamentals of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell function. Here the authors discuss the implications of recently reported work performed in the enteropathogen Salmonella enterica (mBio (2015) 6(4):e00891-15), which provided the first insights into the integration of the transcriptional regulation of genes encoding the RLA system with the acs gene encoding the central metabolic enzyme acetyl-CoA synthetase (Acs).