Characterization of the Staphylococcus epidermidis accessory-gene regulator response: quorum-sensing regulation of resistance to human innate host defense.
Staphylococci are important opportunistic pathogens. However, there is a lack of information on how these bacteria survive inside the human body during infection. This study demonstrates that quorum-sensing regulation in Staphylococcus epidermidis protects it from key mechanisms of human innate host defense. To gain a better understanding of the basis of the observed phenotype, the agr quorum-sensing regulon of S. epidermidis was characterized by a genomewide analysis of gene expression. The gene-expression data indicate that agr adapts bacterial physiology to stationary growth and, furthermore, that it controls a series of virulence factors, including degradative exoenzymes possibly involved in resistance to antimicrobial peptides. Remarkably, agr also regulates general and oxidative stress-response factors, including detoxifying enzymes of reactive oxygen species. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that quorum-sensing regulation in staphylococci has important, previously unknown functions that contribute to protection from mechanisms of human innate host defense--and, therefore, to the pathogen's survival in the human host.
Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA.
Yufeng
Y
Yao
Cuong
C
Vuong
Stanislava
S
Kocianova
Amer E
AE
Villaruz
Yuping
Y
Lai
Daniel E
DE
Sturdevant
Michael
M
Otto
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005809:Genes, Regulator / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins