Role for Salmonella enterica enterobacterial common antigen in bile resistance and virulence

Passage through the digestive tract exposes Salmonella enterica to high concentrations of bile salts, powerful detergents that disrupt biological membranes. Mutations in the wecD or wecA gene, both of which are involved in the synthesis of enterobacterial common antigen (ECA), render S. enterica serovar Typhimurium, sensitive to the bile salt deoxycholate. Competitive infectivity analysis of wecD and wecA mutants in the mouse model indicates that ECA is an important virulence factor for oral infection. In contrast, lack of ECA causes only a slight decrease in Salmonella virulence during intraperitoneal infection. A tentative interpretation is that ECA may contribute to Salmonella virulence by protecting the pathogen from bile salts.