The Pyromaniac Inside You: Salmonella Metabolism in the Host Gut

A metabolically diverse microbial community occupies all available nutrient-niches in the lumen of the mammalian intestine, making it difficult for pathogens to establish themselves in this highly competitive environment. Salmonella serovars sidestep the competition by using their virulence factors to coerce the host into creating a novel nutrient-niche. Inflammation-derived nutrients available in this new niche support a bloom of Salmonella serovars, thereby ensuring transmission of the pathogen to the next susceptible host by the fecal-oral route. Here we review the anaerobic food chain that characterizes resident gut-associated microbial communities along with the winning metabolic strategy Salmonella serovars use to edge out competing microbes in the inflamed intestine.