Polymorphisms in fibronectin binding protein A of Staphylococcus aureus are associated with infection of cardiovascular devices.

ABSTRACT: Medical implants, like cardiovascular devices, improve the quality of life for countless individuals but may become infected with bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus. Such infections take the form of a biofilm, a structured community of bacterial cells adherent to the surface of a solid substrate. Every biofilm begins with an attractive force or bond between bacterium and substratum. We used atomic force microscopy to probe experimentally forces between a fibronectin-coated surface (i.e., proxy for an implanted cardiac device) and fibronectin-binding receptors on the surface of individual living bacteria from each of 80 clinical isolates of S. aureus. These isolates originated from humans with infected cardiac devices (CDI; n = 26), uninfected cardiac devices (n = 20), and the anterior nar

SUBMITTER: Lower SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3215016 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature