Staphylococcus aureus ClpC divergently regulates capsule via sae and codY in strain newman but activates capsule via codY in strain UAMS-1 and in strain Newman with repaired saeS.

ABSTRACT: ClpC is an ATPase chaperone found in most Gram-positive low-GC bacteria. It has been recently reported that ClpC affected virulence gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus. Here we report that ClpC regulates transcription of the cap operon and accumulation of capsule, a major virulence factor for S. aureus. As virulence genes are regulated by a complex regulatory network in S. aureus, we have used capsule as a model to understand this regulation. By microarray analyses of strain Newman, we found that ClpC strongly activates transcription of the sae operon, whose products are known to negatively regulate capsule synthesis in this strain. Further studies indicated that ClpC repressed capsule production by activating the sae operon in strain Newman. Interestingly, the clpC gene cloned into a

SUBMITTER: Luong TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3021213 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature