Interactions between Salmonella enterica and its intracellular habitat

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Hensel
• Subject Area: Parasitology and Biology of Tropical Infectious Disease Pathogens
• Term: from 2002 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5373178

Intracellular survival and replication is an important virulence phenotype of Salmonella enterica and requires the coordinate function of several virulence factors. Recent work indicates that Salmonella can actively modulate the biogenesis of the Salmonella-containing vesicle, e.g. by avoidance of delivery of encymes with antimicrobial activity to this compartment as well as by attraction of endosomes that may promote intracellular proliferation. We observed that intracellular Salmonella employ a type III secretion system that translocates effector proteins into infected host cells and contributes to the protection against antimicrobial activities of the host. In this project, the molecular mechanisms of this manipulation of the host cell will be analyzed. The mechanisms will be studied by which intracellular Salmonella can modulate their host cell in order to achieve a vesicle that is permissive for replication and devoid of bacteriocidal defense mechanisms. Special emphasis will be given to the role of effector proteins that are translocated by a type III secretion system encoded by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 2. In the proposed project, the translocation, subcellular localization and interaction with host cell molecules of various effector proteins is investigated.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1131: Life Inside Cells