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Infection and Immunity, February 2001, p. 712-718, Vol. 69, No. 2
Unité des Staphylocoques, Centre
National de Référence des Staphylocoques, Institut Pasteur,
Paris, France,1 and Microbiology Unit,
Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United
Kingdom2
Received 9 August 2000/Returned for modification 2 October
2000/Accepted 23 October 2000
The atlC gene (1,485 bp), encoding an autolysin which
binds fibronectin, and the ica operon, involved in biofilm
formation, were isolated from the chromosome of an infectious isolate
of Staphylococcus caprae and sequenced. AtlC (155 kDa) is
similar to the staphylococcal autolysins Atl, AtlE, Aas (48 to 72%
amino acid identity) and contains a putative signal peptide of 29 amino acids and two enzymatic centers
(N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase and
endo-
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.2.712-718.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Staphylococcus caprae Strains Carry
Determinants Known To Be Involved in Pathogenicity: a Gene Encoding an
Autolysin-Binding Fibronectin and the ica Operon Involved in
Biofilm Formation
-N-acetylglucosaminidase) interconnected by three
imperfect fibronectin-binding repeats. The glycine-tryptophan (GW)
motif found in the central and end part of each repeat may serve for cell surface anchoring of AtlC as they do in Listeria
monocytogenes. The S. caprae ica operon contains four
genes closely related to S. epidermidis and S. aureus
icaA, icaB, icaC, and icaD
genes (
68% similarity) and is preceded by a gene similar to
icaR (
70% similarity). The polypeptides deduced from the
S. caprae ica genes exhibit 67 to 88% amino acid identity
to those of S. epidermidis and S. aureus ica
genes. The ica operon and icaR gene were
analyzed in 14 S. caprae strains from human specimens or
goats' milk. Some of the strains produced biofilm, and others did not.
All strains carry the ica operon and icaR of
the same sizes and in the same relative positions, suggesting that the
absence of biofilm formation is not related to the insertion of a
mobile element such as an insertion sequence or a transposon.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité des
Staphylocoques, Centre National de Référence des
Staphylocoques, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris
Cedex 15, France. Phone: 33-(0)1 45-68-83-63. Fax: 33-(0)1-40-61-31-63.
E-mail: nelsolh{at}pasteur.fr.
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