New Insights from Cell Sub-Journal: How Salmonella hijacks the cholesterol supply of cells

A team of scientists led by EMBL team leader Naxos Tepas discovered new details of Salmonella's survival strategy

In order to discover these mysterious protein interactions, EMBL scientists genetically engineered 32 Salmonella strains by adding identification tags to individual Salmonella proteins—designating a protein in each strain

"Compared with previous experimental strategies, the new method has many advantages

Through their new method, EMBL scientists discovered 421 previously unknown interactions between Salmonella proteins and host cell proteins, as well as 25 previously described interactions

"We found that multiple Salmonella effectors physically interact with several proteins used by host cells to transport cholesterol

Cholesterol is an important part of the biofilm that surrounds our cells and their structures

Scientists have also found new clues to two other survival strategies

Prior to the recent findings, the Typas team published a study in 2020 in which researchers described how Salmonella infection can cause cell death in the form of inflammation

Journal Reference :

1. Philipp Walch, Joel Selkrig, Leigh A.