Identification, cloning, and initial characterization of rot, a locus encoding a regulator of virulence factor expression in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: A chromosomal insertion of transposon Tn917 partially restores the expression of protease and alpha-toxin activities to PM466, a genetically defined agr-null derivative of the wild-type Staphylococcus aureus strain RN6390. In co-transduction experiments, transposon-encoded erythromycin resistance and a protease- and alpha-toxin-positive phenotype are transferred at high frequency from mutant strains to agr-null strains of S. aureus. Southern analysis of chromosomal DNA and sequence analysis of DNA flanking the Tn917 insertion site in mutant strains revealed that the transposon interrupted a 498-bp open reading frame (ORF). Similarity searches using a conceptual translation of the ORF identified a region of homology to the known staphylococcal global regulators AgrA and SarA. To verify that

SUBMITTER: McNamara PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC94507 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature