Integrated stress responses in Salmonella

The foodborne gram-negative pathogen Salmonella must adapt to varied environmental conditions encountered within foods, the host gastrointestinal tract and the phagosomes of host macrophages. Adaptation is achieved through the coordinate regulation of gene expression in response to environmental signals such as temperature, pH, osmolarity, redox state, antimicrobial peptides, and nutrient deprivation. This review will examine mechanisms by which the integration of regulatory responses to a broad array of environmental signals can be achieved. First, in the most straightforward case, tandem promoters allow gene expression to respond to multiple signals. Second, versatile sensor proteins may respond to more than one environmental signal. Third, transcriptional silencing and counter-silencing as demonstrated by the H-NS paradigm provides a general mechanism for the convergence of multiple regulatory inputs. Fourth, signaling cascades allow gene activation by independent sensory elements. These mechanisms allow Salmonella to utilize common adaptive stress pathways in response to a diverse range of environmental conditions.

Research highlights
► Regulatory integration allows Salmonella to activate common stress pathways in response to diverse environmental signals.
► Simple mechanisms of integration include regulation via tandem promoters and sensors responsive to multiple signals.
► An additional important mechanism of integration is counter-silencing, represented by the H-NS xenogeneic silencing paradigm.
► Regulatory cascades allow independent sensory elements to converge on a common signaling pathway.