Fitness of Spontaneous Rifampicin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in a Biofilm Environment.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms of S. aureus accumulate cells resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin. We show here that the accumulation of rifampicin resistant mutants (RifR) in biofilms is not equable but rather is a local event, suggesting that the growth of a few locally emerged mutants is responsible for this. Competition assays demonstrated that, compared to wild-type bacteria, the isolated RifR mutants have a growth advantage in biofilms, but not in planktonic culture. To gain insight into the mechanism of the growth advantage, we tested the involvement of the two-component systems (TCS) that sense and respond to environmental changes. We found that a deletion of SrrAB or NreBC has a drastic effect on the growth advantage of RifR mutants, suggesting the importance of oxygen/respiration responses. A

SUBMITTER: Maudsdotter L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6514104 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature