Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have mapped and sequenced the genome for Salmonella typhimurium, one of the leading agents of foodborne disease. According to researchers, the sequence has yielded new potential targets for future drug and vaccine development and gives possible insights into how the bacterium causes disease.
Typhimurium causes an estimated 1.4 million cases of food poisoning each year in the U.S., and about 1,000 deaths. Because antibiotic resistance is a growing problem with Typhimurium, researchers are hopeful that their map will help identify possible new drug targets and reduce the threat of resistant strains.