Most dangerous bacteria that enter the body are engulfed and digested by cells called macrophages. Once inside a macrophage, the bacteria are targeted for death by a mechanism that transports them within a vesicle to a specialized compartment, the lysozome, designed to degrade foreign or unwanted materials.

Once the bacterium is engulfed, it takes only about 30 minutes to reach a lysozome. Therefore, to survive and replicate, bacteria must act rapidly to avoid this pathway to degradation. Salmonella, the bacterium that causes food poisoning and typhoid fever, can do that.

"Salmonella have an elegant strategy for surviving and replicating and avoiding this cellular disposal system," said Galan, the Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbiology, and Chairman of the Section of Microbial Pathogenesis. "We found that these bacteria alter the lipid composition of the vacuole, or compartment, they are in so that it cannot progress down the standard path to the lysozome and destruction."

To accomplish this remarkable feat, the Salmonella bacteria use a "syringe-like" device called the type III secretion system to deliver a protein, SopB, which has phosphoinositide phosphatase activity and modifies the composition of the vacuole that encloses them.

"While this research is not a cure for food poisoning or typhoid fever, our work is revealing a fundamental mechanism by which these bacteria cause disease - and may provide or lead to new targets for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for controlling them," said Galan.

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Contact: Janet Rettig Emannuel
janet.emanuel@yale.edu
203-432-2157
Yale University
17-Jun-2004