Pathogens' exploitation of the intestinal food web.

Competition for nutrients is a key factor controlling pathogen colonization within the gastrointestinal tract. In this issue, Ferreyra et al. (2014) and Curtis et al. (2014) show that diverse enteric pathogens can exploit a metabolic byproduct from the commensal microbiota, succinate, to enhance their own virulence expression and proliferation.