Navigating contradictions: <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium chemotaxis amidst conflicting stimuli of the intestinal environment.

ABSTRACT: Motile bacteria sense and avoid deleterious stimuli in their environment through chemorepulsion, a behavior that helps them locate permissive ecological niches. In the gut, indole is a bacteriostatic compound produced by the microbiota and is thought to act as a chemorepellent for invading pathogens, thereby protecting the host against infection. The principal reservoir of intestinal indole is fecal matter, a complex biological material that contains both attractant and repellent stimuli. Whether indole in its natural context is sufficient for pathogen chemorepulsion or host protection has remained unknown. Using an intestinal explant system, we show that while pure indole indeed suppresses an infection advantage mediated through chemotaxis for the enteric pathogen Salmonella enterica</

SUBMITTER: Franco K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10827161 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature