This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Somerville, G. A.
Right arrow Articles by Musser, J. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Somerville, G. A.
Right arrow Articles by Musser, J. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, August 2003, p. 4724-4732, Vol. 71, No. 8
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.8.4724-4732.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Correlation of Acetate Catabolism and Growth Yield in Staphylococcus aureus: Implications for Host-Pathogen Interactions

Greg A. Somerville,1* Battouli Saïd-Salim,2 Jaala M. Wickman,1 Sandra J. Raffel,1 Barry N. Kreiswirth,2 and James M. Musser1

Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840,1 Public Health Research Institute, Newark, New Jersey 07103-35352

Received 22 April 2003/ Accepted 16 May 2003

Recently, we reported that the prototypical Staphylococcus aureus strain RN6390 (a derivative of NCTC 8325) had significantly reduced aconitase activity relative to a diverse group of S. aureus isolates, leading to the hypothesis that strain RN6390 has impaired tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle-mediated acetate catabolism. Analysis of the culture supernatant from RN6390 confirmed that acetate was incompletely catabolized, suggesting that the ability to catabolize acetate can be lost by S. aureus. To test this hypothesis, we examined the carbon catabolism of the S. aureus strains whose genome sequences are publicly available. All strains catabolized glucose and excreted acetate into the culture medium. However, strains NCTC 8325 and N315 failed to catabolize acetate during the postexponential growth phase, resulting in significantly lower growth yields relative to strains that catabolized acetate. Strains NCTC 8325 and RN6390 contained an 11-bp deletion in rsbU, the gene encoding a positive regulator of the alternative sigma factor {sigma}B encoded by sigB. An isogenic derivative strain of RN6390 containing the wild-type rsbU gene had significantly increased acetate catabolism, demonstrating that {sigma}B is required for acetate catabolism. Taken together, the data suggest that naturally occurring mutations can alter the ability of S. aureus to catabolize acetate, a surprising discovery, as TCA cycle function has been demonstrated to be involved in the virulence, survival, and persistence of several pathogenic organisms. Additionally, these mutations decrease the fitness of S. aureus by reducing the number of progeny placed into subsequent generations, suggesting that in certain situations a decreased growth yield is advantageous.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 903 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840. Phone: (406) 363-9313. Fax: (406) 363-9394. E-mail: gsomerville{at}niaid.nih.gov.

Editor: D. L. Burns

Infection and Immunity, August 2003, p. 4724-4732, Vol. 71, No. 8
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.8.4724-4732.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Wirtz, C., Witte, W., Wolz, C., Goerke, C. (2009). Transcription of the phage-encoded Panton-Valentine leukocidin of Staphylococcus aureus is dependent on the phage life-cycle and on the host background. Microbiology 155: 3491-3499 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • van Schaik, E. J., Tom, M., Woods, D. E. (2009). Burkholderia pseudomallei Isocitrate Lyase Is a Persistence Factor in Pulmonary Melioidosis: Implications for the Development of Isocitrate Lyase Inhibitors as Novel Antimicrobials. Infect. Immun. 77: 4275-4283 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Geissmann, T., Chevalier, C., Cros, M.-J., Boisset, S., Fechter, P., Noirot, C., Schrenzel, J., Francois, P., Vandenesch, F., Gaspin, C., Romby, P. (2009). A search for small noncoding RNAs in Staphylococcus aureus reveals a conserved sequence motif for regulation. Nucleic Acids Res 0: gkp668v1-gkp668 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Somerville, G. A., Proctor, R. A. (2009). At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73: 233-248 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sadykov, M. R., Olson, M. E., Halouska, S., Zhu, Y., Fey, P. D., Powers, R., Somerville, G. A. (2008). Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle-Dependent Regulation of Staphylococcus epidermidis Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin Synthesis. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7621-7632 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Seidl, K., Bischoff, M., Berger-Bachi, B. (2008). CcpA Mediates the Catabolite Repression of tst in Staphylococcus aureus. Infect. Immun. 76: 5093-5099 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Shanks, R. M. Q., Meehl, M. A., Brothers, K. M., Martinez, R. M., Donegan, N. P., Graber, M. L., Cheung, A. L., O'Toole, G. A. (2008). Genetic Evidence for an Alternative Citrate-Dependent Biofilm Formation Pathway in Staphylococcus aureus That Is Dependent on Fibronectin Binding Proteins and the GraRS Two-Component Regulatory System. Infect. Immun. 76: 2469-2477 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Rice, K. C., Bayles, K. W. (2008). Molecular Control of Bacterial Death and Lysis. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 72: 85-109 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chatterjee, I., Herrmann, M., Proctor, R. A., Peters, G., Kahl, B. C. (2007). Enhanced Post-Stationary-Phase Survival of a Clinical Thymidine-Dependent Small-Colony Variant of Staphylococcus aureus Results from Lack of a Functional Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle. J. Bacteriol. 189: 2936-2940 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nelson, J. L., Rice, K. C., Slater, S. R., Fox, P. M., Archer, G. L., Bayles, K. W., Fey, P. D., Kreiswirth, B. N., Somerville, G. A. (2007). Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus Strains Have Impaired Acetate Catabolism: Implications for Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin Synthesis and Autolysis. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51: 616-622 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chatterjee, I., Somerville, G. A., Heilmann, C., Sahl, H.-G., Maurer, H. H., Herrmann, M. (2006). Very Low Ethanol Concentrations Affect the Viability and Growth Recovery in Post-Stationary-Phase Staphylococcus aureus Populations. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 2627-2636 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pichon, C., Felden, B. (2005). From The Cover: Small RNA genes expressed from Staphylococcus aureusgenomic and pathogenicity islands with specific expression among pathogenic strains. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 14249-14254 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nielsen, L. E., Kadavy, D. R., Rajagopal, S., Drijber, R., Nickerson, K. W. (2005). Survey of Extreme Solvent Tolerance in Gram-Positive Cocci: Membrane Fatty Acid Changes in Staphylococcus haemolyticus Grown in Toluene. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 5171-5176 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chatterjee, I., Becker, P., Grundmeier, M., Bischoff, M., Somerville, G. A., Peters, G., Sinha, B., Harraghy, N., Proctor, R. A., Herrmann, M. (2005). Staphylococcus aureus ClpC Is Required for Stress Resistance, Aconitase Activity, Growth Recovery, and Death. J. Bacteriol. 187: 4488-4496 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Vuong, C., Kidder, J. B., Jacobson, E. R., Otto, M., Proctor, R. A., Somerville, G. A. (2005). Staphylococcus epidermidis Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin Production Significantly Increases during Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Stress. J. Bacteriol. 187: 2967-2973 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, H., Morikawa, K., Ohta, T., Kato, Y. (2005). In vitro resistance to the CS{alpha}{beta}-type antimicrobial peptide ASABF- is conferred by overexpression of sigma factor sigB in Staphylococcus aureus. J Antimicrob Chemother 55: 686-691 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bae, T., Banger, A. K., Wallace, A., Glass, E. M., Aslund, F., Schneewind, O., Missiakas, D. M. (2004). Staphylococcus aureus virulence genes identified by bursa aurealis mutagenesis and nematode killing. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 12312-12317 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»