Salmonella Evades d-Amino Acid Oxidase To Promote Infection in Neutrophils

Neutrophils engulf and kill bacteria using oxidative and nonoxidative mechanisms. Despite robust antimicrobial activity, neutrophils are impaired in directing Salmonella clearance and harbor viable intracellular bacteria during early stages of infection that can subsequently escape to more-permissive cell types. The mechanisms accounting for this immune impairment are not understood. We report that Salmonella limits exposure to oxidative damage elicited by d-amino acid oxidase (DAO) in neutrophils by expressing an ABC importer specific for d-alanine, a DAO substrate found in peptidoglycan stem peptides. A Salmonella dalS mutant defective for d-alanine import was more susceptible to killing by DAO through exposure to greater oxidative stress during infection. This fitness defect was reversed by selective depletion of neutrophils or by inhibition of DAO in vivo with a small-molecule inhibitor. DalS-mediated subversion of neutrophil DAO is a novel host-pathogen interaction that enhances Salmonella survival during systemic infection.