Abstract
Intracellular bacteria exploit host cytosolic signals to upregulate virulence genes. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Wong et al. (2015) show that Burkholderia pseudomallei senses host cytosolic glutathione, a low-molecular-weight thiol, through the membrane-bound histidine sensor kinase VirA, highlighting the importance of inter-kingdom signaling in bacterial pathogenesis.