Transcriptomic analysis of Staphylococcus aureus using microarray and advanced next-generation RNA-seq technologies

Using Quantitative Spectrometry to Understand the Influence of Genetics and Nutritional Perturbations On the Virulence Potential of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) is the leading cause of a variety of bacterial infections ranging from superficial skin infections to invasive and life threatening diseases such as septic bacteremia, necrotizing pneumonia, and endocarditis. The success of Sa as a human pathogen is contributed to its ability to adapt to different environments by changing expression, production, or secretion of virulence factors. Although Sa immune evasion is well-studied, the regulation of virulence factors under different nutrient and growth conditions is still not well understood. Here, we used label-free quantitative mass spectrometry to quantify and compare the Sa exoproteins (i.e. exoproteomes) of master regulator mutants or established reference strains. Different environmental conditions were addressed by growing the bacteria in rich or minimal media at different phases of growth. We observed clear differences in the composition of the exoproteomes depending on the genetic background or growth conditions. The relative abundance of cytotoxins determined in our study correlated well with differences in cytotoxicity measured by lysis of human neutrophils. Our findings demonstrate that label-free quantitative mass spectrometry is a versatile tool for predicting the virulence of bacterial strains and highlights the importance of the experimental design for in vitro studies. Furthermore, the results indicate that label-free proteomics can be used to cluster isolates into groups with similar virulence properties, highlighting the power of label-free quantitative mass spectrometry to distinguish Sa strains.

Cytoplasmic peptidoglycan intermediate levels in Staphylococcus aureus

Intracellular cytoplasmic peptidoglycan (PG) intermediate levels were determined in Staphylococcus aureus during log-phase growth in enriched media. Levels of UDP-linked intermediates were quantitatively determined using ion pairing LC-MS/MS in negative mode, and amine intermediates were quantitatively determined stereospecifically as their Marfey's reagent derivatives in positive mode. Levels of UDP-linked intermediates in S. aureus varied from 1.4 μM for UDP-GlcNAc-Enolpyruvyate to 1200 μM for UDP-MurNAc. Levels of amine intermediates (L-Ala, D-Ala, D-Ala-D-Ala, L-Glu, D-Glu, and L-Lys) varied over a range of from 860 μM for D-Ala-D-Ala to 30-260 mM for the others. Total PG was determined from the D-Glu content of isolated PG, and used to estimate the rate of PG synthesis (in terms of cytoplasmic metabolite flux) as 690 μM/min. The total UDP-linked intermediates pool (2490 μM) is therefore sufficient to sustain growth for 3.6 min. Comparison of UDP-linked metabolite levels with published pathway enzyme characteristics demonstrates that enzymes on the UDP-branch range from >80% saturation for MurA, Z, and C, to <5% saturation for MurB. Metabolite levels were compared with literature values for Escherichia coli, with the major difference in UDP-intermediates being the level of UDP-MurNAc, which was high in S. aureus (1200 μM) and low in E. coli (45 μM).

The novel transcriptional regulator SA1804 Is involved in mediating the invasion and cytotoxicity of Staphylococcus aureus

The two-component regulatory system, SaeRS, controls expression of important virulence factors, including toxins and invasins, which contribute to the pathogenicity of Staphylococcus aureus. Previously, we conducted a transcriptomics study for identification of SaeRS regulon and found that inactivation of SaeRS dramatically enhances the transcription of a novel transcriptional regulator (SA1804). This led us to question whether SA1804 is involved in bacterial pathogenicity by regulating the expression of virulence factors. To address this question, we created sa1804, saeRS, and sa1804/saeRS double deletion mutants in a USA300 community-acquired MRSA strain, 923, and determined their impact on the pathogenicity. The deletion of sa1804 dramatically increased the cytotoxicity and enhanced the capacity of bacteria to invade into the epithelial cells (A549), whereas the deletion of saeRS eliminated the cytotoxicity and abolished the bacterial ability to invade into the epithelial cells. Moreover, the double deletions of sa1804 and saeRS appeared a similar phenotype with the saeRS null mutation. Furthermore, we determined the regulatory mechanism of SA1804 using qPCR and gel-shift approaches. Our data indicate that the novel virulence repressor SA1804 is dependent on the regulation of SaeRS. This study sheds light on the regulatory mechanism of virulence factors and allows for us further elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of S. aureus.