Coordinate regulation of virulence in Salmonella typhimurium

Coordinate regulation of virulence in Salmonella typhimurium

Christopher V. Rao

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Salmonella typhimurium is a common food-borne pathogen that causes a variety of diseases ranging from mild gastroenteritis to life threatening systemic infections. During the course of infection, Salmonella invades intestinal epithelial cells using a type III secretion system (TTSS) encoded within Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1). The SPI1 TTSS forms a needle-like structure that injects proteins directly into the cytosol of the host cells. These injected proteins commandeer the host cell's intracellular machinery to promote bacterial internalization. In this talk, I will discuss some of our recent work investigating how Salmonella coordinates the initial steps in the invasion process. The talk will focus on the gene networks involved in dynamically regulating adhesion and assembly of the SPI1 TTSS.