Scientists working on a cure for salmonella have made a major breakthrough in understanding how the bug makes people ill.
Studies of the complete genome sequence of the disease have identified which genes are activated during infection.
The research, published in Molecular Microbiology Journal, could lead the way for scientists working on other potentially fatal diseases including malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.
Dr Jay Hinton, of the British Institute of Food Research (IFR), says that prior to the publication of the complete genome sequence of salmonella last year, little was known about how the bacteria causes disease.
He commented: "With the sequencing of the entire genome, we suddenly had all 4,644 genes to study but realised we didn't understand the function of a third of them."
"This is the first time anyone has created a complete picture of gene expression for any organism during infection," he continued.
"It exposes which genes are the real killers. This new technique can be applied to any infectious disease."
Dr Hinton, who led the joint study by the IFR and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, says disease-causing genes could now be targeted in the development of new vaccines and antibiotics.
Salmonella has become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and now kills more people in the West than any other food-borne pathogen.