TY - JOUR
T1 - A novel gene, fudoh, in the SCCmec region suppresses the colony spreading ability and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus
AU - Kaito, Chikara
AU - Omae, Yosuke
AU - Matsumoto, Yasuhiko
AU - Nagata, Makiko
AU - Yamaguchi, Hiroki
AU - Aoto, Taiji
AU - Ito, Teruyo
AU - Hiramatsu, Keiichi
AU - Sekimizu, Kazuhisa
PY - 2008/12/11
Y1 - 2008/12/11
N2 - Staphylococcus aureus colonies can spread on soft agar plates. We compared colony spreading of clinically isolated methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). All MSSA strains showed colony spreading, but most MRSA strains (73%) carrying SCCmec type-II showed little colony spreading. Deletion of the entire SCCmec type-II region from these MRSA strains restored colony spreading. Introduction of a novel gene, fudoh, carried by SCCmec type-II into Newman strain suppressed colony spreading. MRSA strains with high spreading ability (27%) had no fudoh or a point-mutated fudoh that did not suppress colony spreading. The fudoh-transformed Newman strain had decreased exotoxin production and attenuated virulence in mice. Most community-acquired MRSA strains carried SCCmec type-IV, which does not include fudoh, and showed high colony spreading ability. These findings suggest that fudoh in the SCCmec type-II region suppresses colony spreading and exotoxin production, and is involved in S. aureus pathogenesis.
AB - Staphylococcus aureus colonies can spread on soft agar plates. We compared colony spreading of clinically isolated methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). All MSSA strains showed colony spreading, but most MRSA strains (73%) carrying SCCmec type-II showed little colony spreading. Deletion of the entire SCCmec type-II region from these MRSA strains restored colony spreading. Introduction of a novel gene, fudoh, carried by SCCmec type-II into Newman strain suppressed colony spreading. MRSA strains with high spreading ability (27%) had no fudoh or a point-mutated fudoh that did not suppress colony spreading. The fudoh-transformed Newman strain had decreased exotoxin production and attenuated virulence in mice. Most community-acquired MRSA strains carried SCCmec type-IV, which does not include fudoh, and showed high colony spreading ability. These findings suggest that fudoh in the SCCmec type-II region suppresses colony spreading and exotoxin production, and is involved in S. aureus pathogenesis.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0003921
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0003921
M3 - Article
C2 - 19079549
AN - SCOPUS:57749209833
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 3
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 12
M1 - e3921
ER -