Congratulations to Megan! Her paper, Xanthomonas Infection Transforms the Apoplast into an Accessible and Habitable Niche for Salmonella enterica, has been accepted in Applied Environmental Microbiology. This is the next step forward in our investigation of how infection alters a host. This study focused on the fate of epiphytic S. enterica following arrival on the surface of an infected leaf. These experiments model the arrival of S. enterica to the leaf surface via contaminated irrigation water, sprinkler irrigation or splash dispersal from contaminated soil, biotic fertilizer treatments, or feces deposition in a field. We tracked S. enterica from the leaf surface of infected or water-congested leaves into the apoplast, a UV-protected niche, via the stomata. We identified the role of the Xanthomonas TAL effector, avrHah1, in facilitating the entry of S. enterica into the apoplast and subsequent migration beyond the arrival site. While both water-congestion which could happen after heavy rains or storms – more frequent due to climate change – and leaf infection that includes the symptom water-soaking lead to passive migration of epiphytic bacteria from the leaf surface to the apoplast, only leaf infection leads to bacteria relocating from the hostile leaf surface to a habitable niche where replication and migration beyond the arrival site takes place.