mSphere of Influence: a Controlled Burn—Pathogen Manipulation of the Dynamic Chemistry That Results from Inflammation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Neal Hammer works in the field of bacterial pathogenesis, metabolism, and antibiotic resistance. In this mSphere of Influence article, he reflects on how “Gut inflammation provides a respiratory electron acceptor for Salmonella” by Winter and colleagues (S. E. Winter, P. Thiennimitr, M. G. Winter, B. P. Butler, et al., Nature 467:426–429, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09415) made an impact on him by demonstrating that Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium metabolism is uniquely suited to exploit the chemical by-products that result from the host’s inflammatory response.

Keywords

• Salmonella
• anaerobic respiration
• gut inflammation
• metabolism
• pathogens
• tetrathionate