Poultry Body Temperature Contributes to Invasion Control through Reduced Expression of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 Genes in Salmonella enterica Serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis
ABSTRACTSalmonella entericaserovars Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) are foodborne pathogens, and outbreaks are often associated with poultry products. Chickens are typically asymptomatic when colonized by these serovars; however, the factors contributing to this observation are uncharacterized. Whereas symptomatic mammals have a body temperature between 37°C and 39°C, chickens have a body temperature of 41°C to 42°C. Here,in vivoexperiments using chicks demonstrated that numbers of viableS. Typhimurium orS. Enteritidis bacteria within the liver and spleen organ sites were ≥4 orders of magnitude lower than those within the ceca. When similar doses ofS. Typhimurium orS. Enteritidis were given to C3H/HeN mice, the ratio of the intestinal concentration to the liver/spleen concentration was 1:1. In the avian host, this suggested poor survival within these tissues or a reduced capacity to traverse the host epithelial layer and reach liver/spleen sites or both.Salmonellapathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) promotes localization to liver/spleen tissues through invasion of the epithelial cell layer. Followingin vitrogrowth at 42°C, SPI-1 genessipC,invF, andhilAand the SPI-1rtsAactivator were downregulated compared to expression at 37°C. Overexpression of thehilAactivatorsfur,fliZ, andhilDwas capable of inducinghilA-lacZat 37°C but not at 42°C despite the presence of similar levels of protein at the two temperatures. In contrast, overexpression of eitherhilCorrtsAwas capable of inducinghilAandsipCat 42°C. These data indicate that physiological parameters of the poultry host, such as body temperature, have a role in modulating expression of virulence.