When bacterial pathogens enter the gut, they encounter a complex milieu of signaling molecules and metabolites produced by host and microbial cells or derived from external sources such as the diet. This metabolomic landscape varies throughout the gut and establishes a biogeographical gradient of signals that may be sensed by both pathogens and resident bacteria. Enteric bacterial pathogens have evolved elaborate mechanisms to appropriately regulate their virulence programs, which involves sensing and responding to many of these gut metabolites to facilitate successful gut colonization. In their new review article titled "Long Chain Fatty Acids and Virulence Repression in Intestinal Bacterial Pathogens", graduate student Mary Mitchell and her mentor Dr. Melissa Ellermann discuss recent studies that have investigated the molecular mechanisms by which different long chain fatty acids derivatives modulate the virulence of enteric pathogens. An exciting read!