title: Mutation of sarA in Staphylococcus aureus limits biofilm formation.
abstract: Mutation of sarA resulted in a reduced capacity to form a biofilm in six of the eight Staphylococcus aureus strains we tested (UAMS-1, UAMS-601, SA113, SC-01, S6C, and DB). The exceptions were Newman, which formed a poor biofilm under all conditions, and RN6390, which consistently formed a biofilm only after mutation of agr. Mutation of agr in other strains had little impact on biofilm formation. In every strain other than Newman, including RN6390, simultaneous mutation of sarA and agr resulted in a phenotype like that observed with the sarA mutants. Complementation studies using a sarA clone confirmed that the defect in biofilm formation was due to the sarA mutation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205, USA.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Beenken
authors.forename: Jon S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Blevins
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Smeltzer
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C095698:Agr protein, Staphylococcus aureus; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C088021:SarA protein, bacterial; D015534:Trans-Activators