title: Altered growth, pigmentation, and antimicrobial susceptibility properties of Staphylococcus aureus due to loss of the major cold shock gene cspB.
abstract: An insertional mutation made in the major cold shock gene cspB in Staphylococcus aureus strain COL, a methicillin-resistant clinical isolate, yielded a mutant that displayed a reduced capacity to respond to cold shock and many phenotypic characteristics of S. aureus small-colony variants: a growth defect at 37 degrees C, a reduction in pigmentation, and altered levels of susceptibility to many antimicrobials. In particular, a cspB null mutant displayed increased resistance to aminoglycosides, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and paraquat and increased susceptibility to daptomycin, teicoplanin, and methicillin. With the exception of the increased susceptibility to methicillin, which was due to a complete loss of the type I staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element, these properties were restored to wild-type levels by complementation when cspB was expressed in trans. Taken together, our results link a stress response protein (CspB) of S. aureus to important phenotypic properties that include resistance to certain antimicrobials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Research Service (VAMC), University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Brea D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Duval
authors.forename: Anselmo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: Sarah W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Satola
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Shafer
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; C077188:cold-shock protein CspB, Bacteria; C487789:mecA protein, Staphylococcus aureus