A Novel Locus of Salmonella Typhimurium Involved in Survival in the Peyer's Patches

Abstract

One of these Salmonella-specific genes, mil-VI , is regulated such that it is only expressed while the bacterium is in the small intestine. Virulence studies using mil-VI mutations further demonstrated that the mil-VI gene product is only required during the early stages of the infection process following oral inoculation. We have localized the function of mil-VI to survival and/or growth of Salmonella in Peyer's patches. Peyer's patches are regions of specialized lymphoid tissue involved in the uptake and processing of luminal antigens. Salmonella are capable of colonizing the Peyer's patch and can survive and multiply within the lymphoid tissue. We have renamed this locus gipA (g&barbelow;rowth i&barbelow;n P&barbelow;eyer's patches). Future analysis of this locus will lead to a better understanding of the process Salmonella uses to infect the small intestine of the host.