Greg A. Somerville

Quorum-Sensing Control of Biofilm Factors in Staphylococcus epidermidis

Staphylococcus epidermidis is the most frequent cause of nosocomial sepsis and catheter-related infections, in which biofilm formation is considered to be the main virulence mechanism. Quorum-sensing systems have been recognized as important regulators of virulence and biofilm formation in many bacteria. There is a single quorum-sensing system in S. epidermidis encoded by the agr operon. To investigate quorum-sensing control of biofilm formation, we constructed an agr deletion mutant, assayed for the different stages of biofilm formation, and determined agr-dependent regulation of biofilm factors. The agr mutant showed increased biofilm formation, primary attachment, and expression of the autolysin AtlE, but lacked delta-toxin production. However, the level of polysaccharide intercellular adhesin expression was equivalent to the isogenic wild-type strain. In contrast to AtlE, which is known to influence primary attachment, delta-toxin appeared to exert its effect on attachment to polystyrene during later stages of biofilm formation. Importantly, addition of cross-inhibiting pheromones mimicked an agr mutation and significantly enhanced biofilm formation, which suggests that care should be used when treating S. epidermidis infections with cross-inhibiting peptides. Our data demonstrate the importance of quorum sensing in the establishment of a biofilm in this critical human pathogen.

At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

SUMMARY Bacteria live in environments that are subject to rapid changes in the availability of the nutrients that are necessary to provide energy and biosynthetic intermediates for the synthesis of macromolecules. Consequently, bacterial survival depends on the ability of bacteria to regulate the expression of genes coding for enzymes required for growth in the altered environment. In pathogenic bacteria, adaptation to an altered environment often includes activating the transcription of virulence genes; hence, many virulence genes are regulated by environmental and nutritional signals. Consistent with this observation, the regulation of most, if not all, virulence determinants in staphylococci is mediated by environmental and nutritional signals. Some of these external signals can be directly transduced into a regulatory response by two-component regulators such as SrrAB; however, other external signals require transduction into intracellular signals. Many of the external environmental and nutritional signals that regulate virulence determinant expression can also alter bacterial metabolic status (e.g., iron limitation). Altering the metabolic status results in the transduction of external signals into intracellular metabolic signals that can be “sensed” by regulatory proteins (e.g., CodY, Rex, and GlnR). This review uses information derived primarily using Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli to articulate how gram-positive pathogens, with emphasis on Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, regulate virulence determinant expression in response to a changing environment.

Global differential gene expression in response to growth temperature alteration in group A Streptococcus

Pathogens are exposed to different temperatures during an infection cycle and must regulate gene expression accordingly. However, the extent to which virulent bacteria alter gene expression in response to temperatures encountered in the host is unknown. Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human-specific pathogen that is responsible for illnesses ranging from superficial skin infections and pharyngitis to severe invasive infections such as necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. GAS survives and multiplies at different temperatures during human infection. DNA microarray analysis was used to investigate the influence of temperature on global gene expression in a serotype M1 strain grown to exponential phase at 29°C and 37°C. Approximately 9% of genes were differentially expressed by at least 1.5-fold at 29°C relative to 37°C, including genes encoding transporter proteins, proteins involved in iron homeostasis, transcriptional regulators, phage-associated proteins, and proteins with no known homologue. Relatively few known virulence genes were differentially expressed at this threshold. However, transcription of 28 genes encoding proteins with predicted secretion signal sequences was altered, indicating that growth temperature substantially influences the extracellular proteome. TaqMan real-time reverse transcription–PCR assays confirmed the microarray data. We also discovered that transcription of genes encoding hemolysins, and proteins with inferred roles in iron regulation, transport, and homeostasis, was influenced by growth at 40°C. Thus, GAS profoundly alters gene expression in response to temperature. The data delineate the spectrum of temperature-regulated gene expression in an important human pathogen and provide many unforeseen lines of pathogenesis investigation.

Staphylococcus aureus Aconitase Inactivation Unexpectedly Inhibits Post-Exponential-Phase Growth and Enhances Stationary-Phase Survival

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus preferentially catabolizes glucose, generating pyruvate, which is subsequently oxidized to acetate under aerobic growth conditions. Catabolite repression of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle results in the accumulation of acetate. TCA cycle derepression coincides with exit from the exponential growth phase, the onset of acetate catabolism, and the maximal expression of secreted virulence factors. These data suggest that carbon and energy for post-exponential-phase growth and virulence factor production are derived from the catabolism of acetate mediated by the TCA cycle. To test this hypothesis, the aconitase gene was genetically inactivated in a human isolate of S. aureus, and the effects on physiology, morphology, virulence factor production, virulence for mice, and stationary-phase survival were examined. TCA cycle inactivation prevented the post-exponential growth phase catabolism of acetate, resulting in premature entry into the stationary phase. This phenotype was accompanied by a significant reduction in the production of several virulence factors and alteration in host-pathogen interaction. Unexpectedly, aconitase inactivation enhanced stationary-phase survival relative to the wild-type strain. Aconitase is an iron-sulfur cluster-containing enzyme that is highly susceptible to oxidative inactivation. We speculate that reversible loss of the iron-sulfur cluster in wild-type organisms is a survival strategy used to circumvent oxidative stress induced during host-pathogen interactions. Taken together, these data demonstrate the importance of the TCA cycle in the life cycle of this medically important pathogen.

Direct Targets of CodY in Staphylococcus aureus

More than 200 direct CodY target genes in Staphylococcus aureus were identified by genome-wide analysis of in vitro DNA binding. This analysis, which was confirmed for some genes by DNase I footprinting assays, revealed that CodY is a direct regulator of numerous transcription units associated with amino acid biosynthesis, transport of macromolecules, and virulence. The virulence genes regulated by CodY fell into three groups. One group was dependent on the Agr system for its expression; these genes were indirectly regulated by CodY through its repression of the agr locus. A second group was regulated directly by CodY. The third group, which includes genes for alpha-toxin and capsule synthesis, was regulated by CodY in two ways, i.e., by direct repression and by repression of the agr locus. Since S. aureus CodY was activated in vitro by the branched chain amino acids and GTP, CodY appears to link changes in intracellular metabolite pools with the induction of numerous adaptive responses, including virulence.

In Vitro Serial Passage of Staphylococcus aureus: Changes in Physiology, Virulence Factor Production, and agr Nucleotide Sequence

Recently, we observed that Staphylococcus aureus strains newly isolated from patients had twofold-higher aconitase activity than a strain passaged extensively in vitro, leading us to hypothesize that aconitase specific activity decreases over time during in vitro passage. To test this hypothesis, a strain recovered from a patient with toxic shock syndrome was serially passaged for 6 weeks, and the aconitase activity was measured. Aconitase specific activity decreased 38% (P < 0.001) by the sixth week in culture. During serial passage, S. aureus existed as a heterogeneous population with two colony types that had pronounced (wild type) or negligible zones of beta-hemolytic activity. The cell density-sensing accessory gene regulatory (agr) system regulates beta-hemolytic activity. Surprisingly, the percentage of colonies with a wild-type beta-hemolytic phenotype correlated strongly with aconitase specific activity (rho = 0.96), suggesting a common cause of the decreased aconitase specific activity and the variation in percentage of beta-hemolytic colonies. The loss of the beta-hemolytic phenotype also coincided with the occurrence of mutations in the agrC coding region or the intergenic region between agrC and agrA in the derivative strains. Our results demonstrate that in vitro growth is sufficient to result in mutations within the agr operon. Additionally, our results demonstrate that S. aureus undergoes significant phenotypic and genotypic changes during serial passage and suggest that vigilance should be used when extrapolating data obtained from the study of high-passage strains.

Staphylococcus aureus CodY Negatively Regulates Virulence Gene Expression

CodY is a global regulatory protein that was first discovered in Bacillus subtilis, where it couples gene expression to changes in the pools of critical metabolites through its activation by GTP and branched-chain amino acids. Homologs of CodY can be found encoded in the genomes of nearly all low-G+C gram-positive bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus. The introduction of a codY-null mutation into two S. aureus clinical isolates, SA564 and UAMS-1, through allelic replacement, resulted in the overexpression of several virulence genes. The mutant strains had higher levels of hemolytic activity toward rabbit erythrocytes in their culture fluid, produced more polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA), and formed more robust biofilms than did their isogenic parent strains. These phenotypes were associated with derepressed levels of RNA for the hemolytic alpha-toxin (hla), the accessory gene regulator (agr) (RNAII and RNAIII/hld), and the operon responsible for the production of PIA (icaADBC). These data suggest that CodY represses, either directly or indirectly, the synthesis of a number of virulence factors of S. aureus.

Correlation of acetate catabolism and growth yield in Staphylococcus aureus: implications for host-pathogen interactions.

ABSTRACT Recently, we reported that the prototypical Staphylococcus aureus strain RN6390 (a derivative of NCTC 8325) had significantly reduced aconitase activity relative to a diverse group of S. aureus isolates, leading to the hypothesis that strain RN6390 has impaired tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle-mediated acetate catabolism. Analysis of the culture supernatant from RN6390 confirmed that acetate was incompletely catabolized, suggesting that the ability to catabolize acetate can be lost by S. aureus. To test this hypothesis, we examined the carbon catabolism of the S. aureus strains whose genome sequences are publicly available. All strains catabolized glucose and excreted acetate into the culture medium. However, strains NCTC 8325 and N315 failed to catabolize acetate during the postexponential growth phase, resulting in significantly lower growth yields relative to strains that catabolized acetate. Strains NCTC 8325 and RN6390 contained an 11-bp deletion in rsbU, the gene encoding a positive regulator of the alternative sigma factor σB encoded by sigB. An isogenic derivative strain of RN6390 containing the wild-type rsbU gene had significantly increased acetate catabolism, demonstrating that σB is required for acetate catabolism. Taken together, the data suggest that naturally occurring mutations can alter the ability of S. aureus to catabolize acetate, a surprising discovery, as TCA cycle function has been demonstrated to be involved in the virulence, survival, and persistence of several pathogenic organisms. Additionally, these mutations decrease the fitness of S. aureus by reducing the number of progeny placed into subsequent generations, suggesting that in certain situations a decreased growth yield is advantageous.

Staphylococcus aureus biofilm metabolism and the influence of arginine on polysaccharide intercellular adhesin synthesis, biofilm formation, and pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are the leading causes of nosocomial infections in the United States and often are associated with biofilms attached to indwelling medical devices. Despite the importance of biofilms, there is very little consensus about the metabolic requirements of S. aureus during biofilm growth. To assess the metabolic requirements of S. aureus growing in a biofilm, we grew USA200 and USA300 clonal types in biofilm flow cells and measured the extraction and accumulation of metabolites. In spite of the genetic differences, both clonal types extracted glucose and accumulated lactate, acetate, formate, and acetoin, suggesting that glucose was catabolized to pyruvate that was then catabolized via the lactate dehydrogenase, pyruvate formate-lyase, and butanediol pathways. Additionally, both clonal types selectively extracted the same six amino acids (serine, proline, arginine, glutamine, glycine, and threonine) from the culture medium. These data and recent speculation about the importance of arginine in biofilm growth and the function of arginine deiminase in USA300 clones led us to genetically inactivate the sole copy of the arginine deiminase operon by deleting the arginine/ornithine antiporter gene (arcD) in the USA200 clonal type and to assess the effect on biofilm development and pathogenesis. Although inactivation of arcD did completely inhibit arginine transport and did reduce polysaccharide intercellular adhesin accumulation, arcD mutants formed biofilms and achieved cell densities in catheter infection studies that were equivalent to those for isogenic wild-type strains.

Synthesis and Deformylation of Staphylococcus aureus δ-Toxin Are Linked to Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Activity

In bacteria, translation initiates with formyl-methionine; however, the N-terminal formyl group is usually removed by peptide deformylase, an enzymatic activity requiring iron. Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin is a 26-amino-acid polypeptide secreted predominantly with a formylated N-terminal methionine, which led us to investigate regulation of delta-toxin deformylation. We observed that during exponential and early postexponential growth, delta-toxin accumulated in the culture medium in formylated and deformylated forms. In contrast, only formylated delta-toxin accumulated after the early postexponential phase. The transition from producing both species of delta-toxin to producing only formyl-methionine-containing delta-toxin coincided with increased tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity. The TCA cycle contains several iron-requiring enzymes, which led us to hypothesize that TCA cycle induction depletes the iron in the culture medium, thereby inhibiting peptide deformylase activity. As expected, S. aureus depletes the iron in the culture medium between the postexponential and stationary phases of growth. Inhibition of delta-toxin deformylation was relieved by TCA cycle inactivation or by addition of supplemental iron to the culture medium. Of interest, peptides containing formyl-methionine are potent chemoattractants for neutrophils, suggesting that delta-toxin deformylation may have functional consequences. We found neutrophil chemotactic activity only with formylated delta-toxin. The S. aureus TCA cycle is derepressed upon depletion of rapidly catabolizable carbon sources; this coincides with the transition to producing only formylated delta-toxin and results in an increased inflammatory response. The proinflammatory response should increase host cell damage and result in the release of nutrients. Taken together, these results establish that there is an important linkage between bacterial metabolism and pathogenesis.