title: CodY in Staphylococcus aureus: a regulatory link between metabolism and virulence gene expression.
abstract: The repressor CodY is reported to inhibit metabolic genes mainly involved in nitrogen metabolism. We analyzed codY mutants from three unrelated Staphylococcus aureus strains (Newman, UAMS-1, and RN1HG). The mutants grew more slowly than their parent strains in a chemically defined medium. However, only codY mutants were able to grow in medium lacking threonine. An excess of isoleucine resulted in growth inhibition in the wild type but not in the codY mutants, indicating that isoleucine plays a role in CodY-dependent repression. Prototypic CodY-repressed genes including the virulence regulator agr are repressed after up-shift with isoleucine. The CodY-dependent repression of agr is consistent with the concomitant influence of CodY on typical agr-regulated genes such as cap, spa, fnbA, and coa. However, some of these virulence genes (e.g., cap, fnbA, and spa) were also regulated by CodY in an agr-negative background. Microarray analysis revealed that the large majority of CodY-repressed genes were involved in amino acid metabolism; CodY-activated genes were mainly involved in nucleotide metabolism or virulence. In summary, CodY in S. aureus not only acts as a repressor for genes involved in nitrogen metabolism but also contributes to virulence gene regulation by supporting as well as substituting for agr function.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Tübingen, [corrected] Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Konstanze
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Francois
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stenz
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schlink
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Geiger
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goerke
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schrenzel
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wolz
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D007532:Isoleucine / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D013912:Threonine / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: C095698:Agr protein, Staphylococcus aureus; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C540555:CodY protein, Staphylococcus aureus; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D037521:Virulence Factors; D007532:Isoleucine; D013912:Threonine