The injectisome encoded by Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI-2) had been thought to translocate 28 effectors. Here, we used a proteomic approach to characterise the secretome of a clinical strain of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, that had been mutated to cause hyper-secretion of the SPI-2 injectisome effectors. Along with many known effectors, we discovered the novel SseM protein. sseM is widely distributed between the five subspecies of Salmonella enterica, is found in many clinically-relevant serovars, and is co-transcribed with pipB2, a SPI-2 effector gene. Translocation of SseM required a functional SPI-2 injectisome. Following expression in human cells, SseM interacted with five components of the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DAPC), namely b-2-syntrophin, utrophin/ dystrophin, a-catulin, a-dystrobrevin and b-dystrobrevin. The interaction between SseM and b-2-syntrophin and a-dystrobrevin was verified in S. Typhimurium-infected cells and relied on the PDZ domain of b-2-syntrophin and a sequence corresponding to a PDZ-binding motif (PBM) in SseM. A DsseM mutant strain had a small competitive advantage over the wild-type strain in the S. Typhimurium/mouse model of systemic disease. This phenotype was complemented by a plasmid expressing wild type SseM from S. Typhimurium or S. Enteritidis and was dependent on the PBM of SseM. Therefore, a PBM within a Salmonella effector mediates interactions with the DAPC and modulates systemic growth of bacteria in mice.

Modulation of Salmonella virulence by a novel SPI-2 injectisome effector that interacts with the dystrophin-associated protein complex.