Sensory deprivation in Staphylococcus aureus

Villanueva, M., García, B., Valle, J., Rapún, B., Ruiz de Los Mozos, I., Solano, C., Martí, M., Penadés, J. R. , Toledo-Arana, A. and Lasa, I. (2018) Sensory deprivation in Staphylococcus aureus. Nature Communications, 9, 523. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02949-y) (PMID:29410457) (PMCID:PMC5802764)

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Abstract

Bacteria use two-component systems (TCSs) to sense and respond to environmental changes. The core genome of the major human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus encodes 16 TCSs, one of which (WalRK) is essential. Here we show that S. aureus can be deprived of its complete sensorial TCS network and still survive under growth arrest conditions similarly to wild-type bacteria. Under replicating conditions, however, the WalRK system is necessary and sufficient to maintain bacterial growth, indicating that sensing through TCSs is mostly dispensable for living under constant environmental conditions. Characterization of S. aureus derivatives containing individual TCSs reveals that each TCS appears to be autonomous and self-sufficient to sense and respond to specific environmental cues, although some level of cross-regulation between non-cognate sensor-response regulator pairs occurs in vivo. This organization, if confirmed in other bacterial species, may provide a general evolutionarily mechanism for flexible bacterial adaptation to life in new niches.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness grants BIO2011-30503-C02-02, BIO2014-53530-R, SAF2014-56716-REDT , and RTC-2015-3184-1. J.V. was supported by Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2009-03948) contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Penades, Prof Jose R
Authors: Villanueva, M., García, B., Valle, J., Rapún, B., Ruiz de Los Mozos, I., Solano, C., Martí, M., Penadés, J. R., Toledo-Arana, A., and Lasa, I.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
Journal Name:Nature Communications
Publisher:Nature Research
ISSN:2041-1723
ISSN (Online):2041-1723
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2018 The Authors
First Published:First published in Nature Communications 9: 523
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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