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Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6220-6228, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6220-6228.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transcriptional Profiling of Target of RNAIII-Activating Protein, a Master Regulator of Staphylococcal Virulence

Department of Human Microbiology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel,¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536²

Received 17 March 2005/ Returned for modification 28 April 2005/ Accepted 10 June 2005

Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive bacterium that is part of the normal healthy flora but that can become virulent and cause infections by producing biofilms and toxins. The production of virulence factors is regulated by cell-cell communication (quorum sensing) through the histidine phosphorylation of target of RNAIII-activating protein (TRAP), which is a 21-kDa protein that is highly conserved among staphylococci. Using microarray analysis, we show here that the expression and phosphorylation of TRAP upregulate the expression of most, if not all, toxins known to date, as well as their global regulator agr. In addition, we show here that the expression and phosphorylation of TRAP are also necessary for the expression of genes known to be necessary for the survival of the bacteria in a biofilm, like arc, pyr, and ure. TRAP is thus demonstrated to be a master regulator of staphylococcal pathogenesis.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

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