Salmonella pathogenicity islands in the genomic era

Abstract

Serovars of Salmonella are significant bacterial pathogens and are leading contributors to the global burden of diarrhoeal disease. Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPIs) are essential for the survival and success of this genus, enabling colonisation, invasion, and survival in hostile environments. While genomics has transformed efforts to understand the evolution, dissemination, and antimicrobial resistance of members, its use to explore virulence determinants that contribute to the pathogenicity of specific organisms and severity of infection remains varied. Here, we discuss the importance of SPIs to the evolution of Salmonella, the implications in the shift of identification of SPIs from molecular microbiology to genomic-based approaches, and examine current efforts to explore the distribution and prevalence of SPIs in large-scale datasets of Salmonella genomes.

Keywords: Salmonella pathogenicity islands; evolution; genomics; pathogenesis.