DOI 10.1186/s13567-015-0261-5 RESEARCH ARTICLE HtpG contributes to Salmonella

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium (Salmonella Typhimurium) contamination of pork, is one of the major sources of human salmonellosis. The bacterium is able to persist and hide in asymptomatic carrier animals, generating a reservoir for Salmonella transmission to other animals and humans. Mechanisms involved in Salmonella persistence in pigs remain poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrate that the Salmonella htpG gene, encoding a homologue of the eukaryotic heat shock protein 90, contributes to Salmonella Typhimurium persistence in intestine-associated tissues of pigs, but not in the tonsils. HtpG does not seem to play an important role during the acute phase of infection. The contribution to persistence was shown to be associated with htpG-depend-ent Salmonella invasion and survival in porcine enterocytes and macrophages. These results reveal the role of HtpG as a virulence factor contributing to Salmonella persistence in pigs. © 2015 Verbrugghe et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licens