Host inflammation–derived citrate enhances Salmonella Typhimurium pathogenesis by fueling growth and activating virulence
- Hongmin Sun
- Shuai Ma
- Chenbo Kang
- Mengjie Zhao
- Jingnan Chen
- Houliang Guo
- Yiming Wang
- Luoqing Feng
- Lingyan Jiang
- Bin Yang
2026-08-06
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium ( S Tm) infection triggers robust intestinal inflammatory responses during host colonization. Although host inflammatory responses typically function as defense mechanisms, S Tm subverts these processes by co-opting inflammation-derived metabolites to increase both bacterial proliferation and intestinal colonization. Here, we demonstrate that S Tm-induced intestinal inflammation results in the significant accumulation of luminal citrate, which plays dual roles in S Tm pathogenesis, serving as both an anaerobic fermentation substrate to support bacterial growth and a virulence-activating signaling molecule. Mechanistically, the CitAB two-component system detects elevated citrate concentrations in the inflamed intestine, initiating the transcriptional activation of citrate fermentation genes to facilitate S Tm luminal proliferation. Moreover, CitAB-mediated citrate sensing directly upregulates hilD , which encodes the master regulator of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1, thereby enhancing type III secretion system-dependent epithelial invasion. Genetic disruption of either citrate anaerobic fermentation pathway or citrate-mediated virulence-regulating pathway severely compromises both intestinal colonization and invasive capacity of S Tm. These findings underscore citrate-responsive pathways as promising therapeutic targets for simultaneously disrupting S Tm metabolic adaptability and virulence.