In Vivo Tracking of Bacterial Colonization in Different Murine Models Using Bioluminescence: The Example of Salmonella

Abstract

Applications of bioluminescence for the in vivo study of pathogenic microorganisms are numerous, ranging from the quantification of virulence gene expression to measuring the effect of antimicrobial molecules on the colonization of tissues and organs by the pathogen. Most studies are performed in mice, but recent works demonstrate that this technique is applicable to larger animals like fish, guinea pigs, ferrets, and chickens. Here, we describe the construction and the utilization of a constitutively luminescent strain of Salmonella Typhimurium to monitor in vivo and ex vivo the colonization of mice in the gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, and asymptomatic carriage models of Salmonella infection.

Keywords: Bioluminescence; In vivo imaging; Infection kinetics; Murine models; Salmonella Typhimurium.