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Infection and Immunity, June 2001, p. 4079-4085, Vol. 69, No. 6
Department of Microbial
Genetics1 and Department of General and
Environmental Hygiene, Hygiene Institute,2
University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Received 27 November 2000/Returned for modification 12 February
2001/Accepted 2 March 2001
Products of the intercellular adhesion (ica) operon
in Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus
epidermidis synthesize a linear
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.6.4079-4085.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Anaerobic Conditions Induce Expression of
Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin in Staphylococcus
aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis
-1,6-linked
glucosaminylglycan. This extracellular polysaccharide mediates
bacterial cell-cell adhesion and is required for biofilm formation,
which is thought to increase the virulence of both pathogens in
association with prosthetic biomedical implants. The environmental
signal(s) that triggers ica gene product and polysaccharide expression is unknown. Here we demonstrate that anaerobic in vitro growth conditions lead to increased polysaccharide expression in both S. aureus and S.
epidermidis, although the regulation is less stringent in
S. epidermidis. Anaerobiosis also dramatically
stimulates ica-specific mRNA expression in
ica- and polysaccharide-positive strains
of both S. aureus and S. epidermidis. These data suggest a mechanism whereby ica gene
expression and polysaccharide production may act as a virulence factor
in an anaerobic environment in vivo.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
General and Environmental Hygiene, Hygiene Institute, University of
Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 31, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Phone: (49) 7071-298-2069. Fax: (49) 7071-29-3011. E-mail:
gerd.doering{at}uni-tuebingen.de.
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