A new chromosomal locus associated with gut-modulated phenotypes in Salmonella enterica serotype typhimurium

A cosmid DNA library had been constructed previously from 40-kb fragments of genomic DNA from a virulent invasive strain of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (TML) in an avirulent hypo-invasive Typhimurium strain (LT7). Selection of invasive clones from the library was attempted by iterative passage through a rabbit ileal organ culture. After the fourth passage, a clone, designated LT7(pHC20-2), was isolated. Exposure to both gut tissue and Caco-2 cells enhanced the growth, invasiveness for gut and Caco-2 cells, and flagellin expression of LT7(pHC20-2) although its invasiveness was less than that of strain TML. Expression of appendages (surface structures c. 60-70 nm diameter) was shown to play a role in but not to confer invasiveness, and was demonstrated in the absence of direct contact with eukaryotic cells. Exposure to gut tissue also affected the expression of several outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) in all four Salmonella strains--TML, LT7, LT7(pHC79), LT7(pHC20 2)--used in this work. As the genes involved in flagella, invasin and porin expression are distributed around the salmonella chromosome, it is possible that pHC20-2 encodes a pleiotropic regulator of genes involved in gastro-enteritic virulence and adaptation to the in-vivo gut environment. pHC20-2 mapped at c. centisome 25 on the salmonella chromosome close to, but distinct from, SPI-5.