Genome Plasticity of agr-Defective Staphylococcus aureus during Clinical Infection.

ABSTRACT: Therapy for bacteremia caused by Staphylococcus aureus is often ineffective, even when treatment conditions are optimal according to experimental protocols. Adapted subclones, such as those bearing mutations that attenuate agr-mediated virulence activation, are associated with persistent infection and patient mortality. To identify additional alterations in agr-defective mutants, we sequenced and assembled the complete genomes of clone pairs from colonizing and infected sites of several patients in whom S. aureus demonstrated a within-host loss of agr function. We report that events associated with agr inactivation result in agr-defective blood and nares strain pairs that are enriched in mutations compared to pairs from wild-type controls. T

SUBMITTER: Altman DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6204747 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature