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Infection and Immunity, March 2000, p. 1048-1053, Vol. 68, No. 3
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Construction and Characterization of an agr Deletion Mutant of Staphylococcus epidermidis

Cuong Vuong, Friedrich Götz, and Michael Otto*

Mikrobielle Genetik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

Received 6 July 1999/Returned for modification 30 August 1999/Accepted 23 November 1999

The physiological significance of the accessory gene regulator (agr) system of Staphylococcus epidermidis was investigated by construction of an agr deletion mutant via allelic replacement with a spectinomycin resistance cassette. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis showed that the protein pattern was strongly altered in the mutant; the amounts of most surface proteins were higher, whereas the amounts of most exoproteins were lower. The agr system of S. epidermidis thus appears to have an important impact on growth phase-dependent protein synthesis as has been shown for Staphylococcus aureus. The activity of the exoenzymes lipase and protease, assumed to be involved in staphylococcal pathogenicity, was investigated by agar diffusion assays and SDS-PAGE activity staining. A general reduction of these enzyme activities in the agr mutant was found. The difference in overall lipase activity was small, but zymographic analysis suggested a clear defect in lipase processing in the agr mutant.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Mikrobielle Genetik, Universität Tübingen, Waldhäuserstr. 70/8, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. Phone: 49-7071-2974648. Fax: 49-7071-295937. E-mail: michael.otto{at}uni-tuebingen.de.

Infection and Immunity, March 2000, p. 1048-1053, Vol. 68, No. 3
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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