Affiliation:
1. Departments of Microbiology and Immunology
2. Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1
3. Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 4V2
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Molecular determinants underlying the production of siderophores in the human and animal pathogen
Staphylococcus aureus
and the contribution of siderophore production to the virulence of this bacterium have, until now, remained undefined. Here, we show that
S. aureus
strains RN6390 and Newman produce siderophore when the cells are starved for iron. We further identified and characterized a nine-gene, iron-regulated operon, designated
sbn
and situated between
sirABC
and
galE
on the
S. aureus
chromosome, that is involved in the production of a siderophore. Mutation of the
sbnE
gene, in both RN6390 and Newman, eliminates the ability of these strains to produce a siderophore under iron-limited growth conditions, while introduction of multicopy
sbnE
into
sbnE
mutants complemented the inability of the mutants to produce the siderophore.
sbnE
mutants, in both the RN6390 and Newman backgrounds, displayed a drastic growth deficiency, compared to the wild type, in iron-restricted growth medium, whereas no such deficiency was observed during growth in iron-replete medium. Complemented mutants showed a restored ability to grow under iron restriction. We further showed that an
sbnE
mutant was compromised in a murine kidney abscess model of
S. aureus
infection, illustrating the importance of siderophore production to the pathogenicity of
S. aureus. sbn
genes were present in all
S. aureus
strains tested (and all
S. aureus
genome sequences) but were undetectable in any of the 13 coagulase-negative staphylococci tested, including
Staphylococcus epidermidis
.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
176 articles.
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