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Infection and Immunity, August 2003, p. 4304-4312, Vol. 71, No. 8
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.8.4304-4312.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Major Cold Shock Gene, cspA, Is Involved in the Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to an Antimicrobial Peptide of Human Cathepsin G

Samuel Katzif,1 Damien Danavall,1 Samera Bowers,1 Jacqueline T. Balthazar,1,2 and William M. Shafer1,2*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322,1 Laboratories of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Medical Research Service, VA Medical Center, Decatur, Georgia 300332

Received 11 December 2002/ Returned for modification 28 February 2003/ Accepted 16 May 2003

A Tn551 insertional library of Staphylococcus aureus strain ISP479 was challenged with an antimicrobial peptide (CG 117-136) derived from human neutrophil cathepsin G (CG). After repeated selection and screening of surviving colonies, a mutant was identified that expressed increased resistance to CG 117-136. Southern hybridization analysis revealed that the Tn551 insert in this mutant (SK1) was carried on a 10.6-kb EcoRI chromosomal DNA fragment. Subsequent physical mapping of this Tn551 insert revealed that it was positioned between a putative promoter sequence and the translational start codon of the cspA gene, which encodes a protein (CspA) highly similar to the major cold shock proteins CspA and CspB of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, respectively. This Tn551 insertion as well as a separate deletion-insertion mutation in cspA decreased the capacity of S. aureus to respond to the stress of cold shock and increased resistance to CG 117-136. The results indicate for the first time that a physiologic link exists between bacterial susceptibility to an antimicrobial peptide and a stress response system.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 3001 Rollins Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30322. Phone: (404) 728-7688. Fax: (404) 329-2210. E-mail: wshafer{at}emory.edu.

Editor: F. C. Fang

Infection and Immunity, August 2003, p. 4304-4312, Vol. 71, No. 8
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.8.4304-4312.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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