Molecular methods to analyze the effect of proteins expressed by salmonella during its intracellular stage

Abstract

Salmonella is probably the intracellular pathogen most extensively studied. Once inside the cell, this bacterium produces different proteins involved in the infection process known as effectors that translocate through its own secretion systems to the eukaryotic cytosol exerting diverse effects on the cell. Additionally, Salmonella can be engineered to include a protein expression system that, upon the addition of an inducer molecule, can produce heterologous proteins at a specific time during the course of the infection. The effect of such proteins on the eukaryotic (i.e., tumoral) cells can be detected following distinct approaches, which converts Salmonella in an effective tool to produce proteins inside eukaryotic cells with different purposes, such as killing tumoral cells. Here, we present diverse technics currently used to produce proteins by Salmonella inside tumoral cells and analyze its cytotoxic effect.