Vancomycin susceptibility in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is mediated by YycHI activation of the WalRK essential two-component regulatory system.

ABSTRACT: The treatment of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is complicated by the emergence of strains with intermediate-level resistance to vancomycin (termed VISA). We have characterised a molecular pathway involved in the in vivo evolution of VISA mediated by the regulatory proteins YycH and YycI. In contrast to their function in other bacterial species, we report a positive role for these auxiliary proteins in regulation of the two-component regulator WalRK. Transcriptional profiling of yycH and yycI deletion mutants revealed downregulation of the 'WalRK regulon' including cell wall hydrolase genes atlA and sle1, with functional autolysis assays supporting these data by showing an impaired autolytic phenotype for each deletion strain. Using bacterial-two hybrid as

SUBMITTER: Cameron DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5013275 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature