Salmonella Feeds on Glucose

NORWICH, United KingdomResearchers from the Institute of Food Research recently discovered that Salmonella feeds on glucose to survive and cause infection. The discovery could lead to vaccine strains to protect against other disease-causing bacteria, including superbugs.

This is the first time that anyone has identified the nutrients that sustain Salmonella while it is infecting a hosts body, said Dr. Arthur Thompson from the Institute of Food Research.

Salmonella must acquire nutrients to replicate; therefore, the scientists focused on glycolysis, the process by which sugars are broken down to create chemical energy. They constructed Salmonella mutants unable to transport glucose into the immune cells they occupy and unable to use glucose as food. The mutant strains lost their ability to replicate within immune cells, rendering them harmless.

The mutant strains still stimulate the immune system, and the scientists have filed patents on them which could be used to develop vaccines to protect people and animals against poisoning by fully virulent salmonella. The harmless strains could be used as vaccine vectors.