Characterization of Lipid Metabolism during Salmonella Infection

DIACOVICH L, GRAMAJO H

Potrero de los Funes. San Luis

Congreso; Reunión Anual N° 47 de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB); 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB)

Salmonella is a facultative intracellular pathogen capable of infecting a wide range of animals, causing diseases ranging from self-limiting enteritis to typhoid fever. The virulence of this pathogen relies on its ability to establish a replicative niche, named Salmonella-containing vacuole (SCV), inside host cells. However, the microenvironment of the SCV and the bacteria and the metabolic pathways required during infection are largely undefined. The objective of this work is to characterize the bacterial and eukaryotic lipid metabolism during the infectious process. We use different reporter systems, fluorescence probes, TLC and confocal microscopy to study the environment and the physiological state of the bacterium in various cell lines. From the eukaryotic perspective, no changes were found in the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine profiles when HeLa cells were infected. However, the expression level of enzymes involve in phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis look to be slightly induced after infection. Also, an increased on oleic acid incorporation was observed in infected HeLa cells. Salmonella strains presenting mutation in beta-oxidation pathway have shown a defect in replication on RAW-macrophages. A better understanding of the vacuolar environment and adaptive response use by Salmonella to survives and proliferates, will be the major outcome of this study.