A novel role for SarX in biofilm regulation Free

Abstract

Biofilm production by staphylococci is an important virulence determinant mediated by the -encoded polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) or by surface and extracellular proteins. Deletion of the accessory regulator significantly reduced biofilm-forming capacity in CSF41498, whereas multicopy complemented the mutant and increased wild-type biofilm production. In , SarX negatively regulates the accessory gene regulator (Agr) system, which in turn has strain-specific effects on biofilm regulation. Here we found that purified SarX protein bound specifically to the P3 promoter. However RT-PCR analysis revealed that both mutation of and multicopy activated RNAIII transcription, making it difficult to correlate -mediated biofilm regulation with altered activity. In contrast, RT-PCR and immunoblot analysis revealed that transcription and PIA expression were decreased in the mutant, whereas multicopy increased and PIA expression. Furthermore, multicopy did not promote biofilms in an mutant. Finally, purified SarX protein bound specifically to the operon promoter. Taken together, these data reveal that the SarX protein regulates the transcriptional activity of the and loci and controls the biofilm phenotype, primarily by regulating transcription and PIA production.

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2011-04-01
2024-03-29
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