The impact of slyA on cell metabolism of Salmonella Typhimurium

Salmonella Typhimurium (S. typhimurium), a gram-negative foodborne pathogen, is the leading cause of Salmonella food poisoning in humans. slyA has been demonstrated to be a critical transcriptional regulator in S. typhimurium, enabling the pathogen to survive in host cells by modulating the expression of hundreds of genes. Metabolomics involves the analysis of metabolite profiles in various genetic backgrounds; metabolomics and is a robust tool for exploring the potential function of unknown genes. In this study, we used gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS-MS) to investigate the potential effect of slyA on the cell metabolism of S. typhimurium. The metabolite profiling data were linked to the transcriptomic data to elucidate the possible roles of slyA in the metabolism of Salmonella. The metabolome data indicated that several glycolysis- and lipid metabolism-associated pathways, including the turnover of glycerolipid, pyruvate, butanoate and glycerophospholipid, were affected in the absence of slyA. In addition, the mRNA levels of several genes associated with glycolysis and lipid turnover were downregulated when slyA was deleted, including pagP, fadL, mgtB, iacp and yciA. Collectively, this evidence suggests that SlyA might impact glycolysis and lipid turnover in Salmonella at the transcriptional level.