Intestinal invasion of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in the avian host is dose dependent and does not depend on motility and chemotaxis.

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) can invade in the intestine of the avian host, and knowledge on the mechanisms that govern this is potentially important for prevention of disease. This study investigated the invasion of S. Typhimurium in the avian host and to which extent it depended on motility and chemotaxis. Wild type and previously well-characterized transposon mutants in flagella genes fliC and fljB and in chemotaxis genes cheA, cheB and cheR were used as challenge strains in intestinal loop experiments. Invasion was shown to be dose dependent, but did not require functional flagella or chemotaxis genes. In support of the results from intestinal loop experiments, flagella and chemotaxis genes were not significantly important to the outcome of an oral infection. The results showed that S. Typhimurium invasion in the avian host was dose dependent and was not affected by the loss of flagella and chemotaxis genes.