Detects sweet and sweet properties of Salmonella and its ability to cope with this bacterium

For the first time, British scientists found the food that the food poisoning bacterium Salmonella absorbed while causing the disease was glucose.

Detecting Salmonella dependent on sugar can lead to a new vaccination. The discovery could also lead to the introduction of a new strain of vaccine, able to protect the body from pathogenic bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Dr. Arthur Thompson from the Food Research Institute said, 'This is the first time we know the type of nutrient that Salmonella bacteria use in disease-causing processes.'

Researching bacterial food in the pathogenesis process is a new and emerging science. This is one of the important breakthroughs. This success is achieved through collaboration with Dr. Gary Rowley at the University of East Anglia.

Every year, around the world, about 20 million people suffer from food poisoning, and about 200,000 people die from Salmonella. This bacterium also harms on animals and vegetables.

During infection, Salmonella is attacked by immune cells that kill bacteria. But instead, bacteria multiply many times.

Salmonella needs nutrients to regenerate. In the process of hydrolysis of glucose, sugar is crushed to release chemical energy. Scientists created the genetically modified Salmonella strain, which prevented them from transporting glucose to immune cells that were controlled and therefore unable to digest glucose. Genetically modified strains lose their ability to divide inside immune cells and become harmless.

Image of Salmonella stained blue in macrophage cells. (Photo: Isabelle Hautefort, IFR)

Dr. Thomspon said, 'This experiment shows that glucose is the main sugar that Salmonella bacteria use during infection.'

These genetically modified strains still stimulate the immune system. Scientists have registered patents based on these genetically modified strains, thereby enabling the development of vaccines to protect humans and animals from poisoning by Salmonella.

Glucose hydrolysis takes place in most organisms, including bacteria that control host cells. Therefore, suppressing the glucose exchange process of bacteria can be used to create vaccine-preventing strains of bacteria, including drug-resistant viruses.

Harmless strains of bacteria can also be used as intermediate hosts. For example, harmless Salmonella strains can carry the gene that causes flu and safely transport it to the immune system.

The next step of this study is to test whether the genetically modified strain will produce an immune response in mice.

In Germany, a six-year research program on bacterial nutrition is conducted, to find out why bacteria can proliferate and cause disease within the host's body.

IFR is a institute of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). This research is funded by BBSRC's Key Strategic Fund

References:
Steven D. Bowden, Gary Rowley, Jay CD Hinton, and Arthur Thompson.Glucose and glycolysis are required for successful infection of macrophages and mice by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.Infection and Immunity, 2009;DOI: 10.1128 / IAI.00093-09