Autophagy is an important component of the mammalian innate immune system and is able to specifically target intracellular bacterial pathogens. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is an intracellular pathogen that causes gastroenteritis in humans. Autophagy has been shown to target S. Typhimurium during in vitro infection of mammalian cultured cells and protects the cytosol of these cells from bacterial colonization. Here we discuss autophagic sequestration of S. Typhimurium and how it can be used as a model system to study the mechanisms of autophagy.
All Keywords