How Pathogens Feel and Overcome Magnesium Limitation When in Host Tissues

Host organisms utilize nutritional immunity to limit the availability of nutrients essential to an invading pathogen. Nutrients may include amino acids, nucleotide bases, and transition metals, the essentiality of which varies among pathogens. The mammalian macrophage protein Slc11a1 (previously Nramp1) mediates resistance to several intracellular pathogens. Slc11a1 is proposed to restrict growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in host tissues by causing magnesium deprivation. This is intriguing because magnesium is the most abundant divalent cation in all living cells. A pathogen's response to factors such as Slc11a1 that promote nutritional immunity may therefore reflect what the pathogen 'feels' in its cytoplasm, rather than the nutrient concentration in host cell compartments.

Automated summary

Host organisms use nutritional immunity to restrict the availability of essential nutrients to invading pathogens, with magnesium deprivation playing a significant role in limiting the growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in host tissues. Pathogens' responses to factors promoting nutritional immunity may be more reflective of their internal cytoplasmic environment rather than the nutrient concentration in host cell compartments.