Mucking In

Lining the inside of our guts, intestinal epithelial cells are exposed to any pathogens we might ingest. A layer of protective mucus, made up of proteins and antibodies, shields them from attack, yet the common food borne bacterium Salmonella enterica can still find a way through. Transmembrane mucins, proteins that lie across the membrane of epithelial cells, create an important barrier, but one of these, MUC1, can be hijacked by Salmonella. Recent research found that cells possessing MUC1 (pictured, with nuclei in blue, MUC1 in green), are much more vulnerable to invasion by Salmonella (in red) than cells without. Salmonella gains entry into epithelial cells thanks to the interaction between MUC1 and one of its own adhesins, surface proteins used by bacteria to attach themselves to potential hosts. Without this protein, named SiiE, Salmonella cannot invade cells through this route, suggesting that treatments targeting SiiE could block this pathway for infection.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image from work by Xinyue Li and colleagues
• Department of Infectious Diseases & Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Pathogens, February 2019