Since the pathogenicity gene repertoire is highly similar to that of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium, it is essential that interventions are introduced at the farm level in order to limit human infection.

Direct manipulation of bacterial chromosomes by recombination-based techniques has become increasingly important for both cognitive and applied research. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the combination of the Red recombinase system with I-SceI endonuclease-based selection of successful recombinants after electroporation with short synthetic olignucleotides. We show the generation of scarless gene knockouts as well as site-directed mutagenesis using the Salmonella virulence-associated two component signaling system PhoPQ. The presented approach is very versatile for generating in-frame deletions, point mutations or insertions within bacterial chromosomes.

SummaryThe giant non-fimbrial adhesin SiiE is essential to establish intimate contact between Salmonella enterica and the apical surface of polarized epithelial cells. SiiE is secreted by a type I secretion system (T1SS) encoded by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 4 (SPI4). We identified SiiA and SiiB as two regulatory proteins encoded by SPI4. Mutant strains in siiA or siiB still secrete SiiE, but are highly reduced in adhesion to, and invasion of polarized cells. SiiA and SiiB are inner membrane proteins with one and three transmembrane (TM) helices respectively. TM2 and TM3 of SiiB are similar to members of the ExbB/TolQ family, while the TM of SiiA is similar to MotB and a conserved aspartate residue in this TM is essential for SPI4-encoded T1SS function. Co-immunoprecipitation, bacterial two-hybrid and FRET demonstrate homoand heterotypic protein interactions for SiiA and SiiB. SiiB, but not SiiA also interacts with the SPI4-T1SS ATPase SiiF. The integrity of the Walker A box in SiiF was required for SiiB-SiiF interaction and SiiF dimer formation. Based on these data, we describe SiiA and SiiB as new, exclusively virulence-associated members of the Mot/Exb/Tol family of membrane proteins. Both proteins are involved in a novel mechanism of controlling SPI4-T1SS-dependent adhesion, most likely by formation of a proton-conducting channel.

In C. metallidurans, a network of 11 extracytoplasmic function sigma factors forms the third pillar of metal homeostasis acting in addition to the metal transportome and metal repositories as the first and second pillar.

The larvae of the wax moth, Galleria  mellonella , have been used experimentally to host a range of bacterial and fungal pathogens. In this study we evaluated the suitability of G . mellonella as an alternative animal model of Salmonella infection. Using a range of inoculum doses we established that the LD50 of Salmonella Typhimurium strain NCTC 12023 was 3.6 × 103 bacteria per larva. Further, a set of isogenic mutant strains depleted of known virulence factors was tested to identify determinants essential for S . Typhimurium pathogenesis. Mutants depleted of one or both of the type III secretion systems encoded by Salmonella Pathogenicity Islands 1 and 2 showed no virulence defect. In contrast, we observed reduced pathogenic potential of a phoQ mutant indicating an important role for the PhoPQ two-component signal transduction system. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structure was also shown to influence Salmonella virulence in G . mellonella . A waaL (rfaL) mutant, which lacks the entire O-antigen (OAg), was virtually avirulent, while a wzz ST/wzz fepE double mutant expressing only a very short OAg was highly attenuated for virulence. Furthermore, shortly after infection both LPS mutant strains showed decreased replication when compared to the wild type in a flow cytometry-based competitive index assay. In this study we successfully established a G . mellonella model of S . Typhimurium infection. By identifying PhoQ and LPS OAg length as key determinants of virulence in the wax moth larvae we proved that there is an overlap between this and other animal model systems, thus confirming that the G . mellonella infection model is suitable for assessing aspects of Salmonella virulence function.