An important host factor that controls bacterial infection is the natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1, also known as SLC11A1) and several research groups determined the contribution of the SLC11A1 locus to severity of infection within animal models (Plant and Glynn, 1976; Bradley, 1977; Skamene et al., 1982; Brown et al., 2013). Here, SLC11A1 is linked to infection.