De Novo Purine Biosynthesis Is Required for Intracellular Growth of Staphylococcus aureus and for the Hypervirulence Phenotype of a purR Mutant

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a noted human and animal pathogen. Despite decades of research on this important bacterium, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the pathogenic mechanisms it uses to infect the mammalian host. This can be attributed to it possessing a plethora of virulence factors and complex virulence factor and metabolic regulation. PurR, the purine biosynthesis regulator, was recently also shown to regulate virulence factors in S. aureus , and mutations in purR result in derepression of fibronectin binding proteins (FnBPs) and extracellular toxins, required for a so-called hypervirulent phenotype.