A novel gene, fudoh, in the SCCmec region suppresses the colony spreading ability and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus.
Staphylococcus aureus colonies can spread on soft agar plates. We compared colony spreading of clinically isolated methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). All MSSA strains showed colony spreading, but most MRSA strains (73%) carrying SCCmec type-II showed little colony spreading. Deletion of the entire SCCmec type-II region from these MRSA strains restored colony spreading. Introduction of a novel gene, fudoh, carried by SCCmec type-II into Newman strain suppressed colony spreading. MRSA strains with high spreading ability (27%) had no fudoh or a point-mutated fudoh that did not suppress colony spreading. The fudoh-transformed Newman strain had decreased exotoxin production and attenuated virulence in mice. Most community-acquired MRSA strains carried SCCmec type-IV, which does not include fudoh, and showed high colony spreading ability. These findings suggest that fudoh in the SCCmec type-II region suppresses colony spreading and exotoxin production, and is involved in S. aureus pathogenesis.
Kaito
Chikara
C
Laboratory of Microbiology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Omae
Yosuke
Y
Matsumoto
Yasuhiko
Y
Nagata
Makiko
M
Yamaguchi
Hiroki
H
Aoto
Taiji
T
Ito
Teruyo
T
Hiramatsu
Keiichi
K
Sekimizu
Kazuhisa
K
D000818:Animals; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial; D014774:Virulence
D005098:Exotoxins