Project description:Genome-wide transcriptional profiling studies of the growth of bacteria with antimicrobial agents often reveals aspects of the drug-specific protective bacterial response. Fusidic acid is a steroid antimicrobial that inhibits protein synthesis by interfering with the release of elongation factor G (EF-G) after it has functioned in the translocation step. Two hundred and seventy two genes were both up- and down-regulated in a fusidic acid-susceptible strain of Staphylococcus aureus following challenge with 2 mg/L-1 fusidic acid for 15 min. Many genes altered by fusidic acid challenge are associated with protein synthesis such as fusA, which encodes EF-G which was up-regulated following exposure to the drug. The Staphylococcus microarray meta-database which curates and compares S. aureus transcriptome data revealed that the fusidic acid stimulon has the greatest overlap with the S. aureus cold shock- and stringent-responses. Six out of 9 autolysin genes making up the two component YycFG regulon (ssaA1-ssaA4, isaA and sceD) were also upregulated by fusidic acid; as were a carboxylesterase (est) and two putative Emr-Qac-like multidrug efflux pumps (emr-qac1 and emr-qac2). Genes down-regulated by fusidic acid induction encode a putative secreted acid phosphatase (sapS) and a number of protease genes (yjbG1, yjbG2, htrA1 and htrA2). Transcriptional analysis in conjunction with mutant fusidic acid susceptibility experiments revealed that th45 e virulence gene regulatory agr operon, a YycFG controlled peptidoglycan hydrolase gene isaA and the proteases htrA1 and htrA2 are required for the expression of wild-type levels of fusidic acid susceptibility.
Project description:In the present study, we employed Affymetrix Staphylococcus aureus GeneChip arrays to investigate the dynamics of global gene expression profiles during the cellular response of Staphylococcus aureus to peracetic acid, which involved initial growth inhibition and subsequent partial recovery. Keywords: Time course
Project description:Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is becoming refractory to existing antibiotic therapy owing to the inherent ability of S. aureus to develop rapid resistance and is considered a major threat to public health. We found that a natural isolate of Bacillus pumilus from the Columbia River Estuary produces a strong anti-MRSA compound, amicoumacin A. As amicoumacin A has been reported to exhibit anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-ulcer activities, we sought to uncover its mechanism of action. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of S. aureus COL in response to amicoumacin A showed alteration in the expression of genes involved in several cellular processes including cell envelope turnover, cross-membrane transport, virulence, metabolism, and general stress response. The most highly induced gene was lrgA, encoding an antiholin-like product, which has been shown to be induced in response to a collapse of membrane potential. In order to gain further insight into the mechanism of action of amicoumacin A, a whole genome comparison of wild-type COL and amicoumacin A-resistant mutants isolated by serial passage method was carried out. Single point mutations resulting in codon substitutions were uncovered in several distinct genes: ksgA, RNA dimethyltranferase; fusA, elongation factor G; dnaG, primase, ; lacD, tagatose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, ; and SACOL0611, encoding a putative glycosyl transferase gene. Based on these results, a candidate approach was undertaken to recreate the same amino acid substitution individually in FusA and KsgA, each of which resulted in two-fold resistance towards amicoumacin A. The fusA gene is known as the site for fusidic acid- resistant mutations; however the codon substitutions in EF-G that cause amicoumacin A resistance and fusidic acid resistance occur in separate domains and do not bring about cross resistance. Taken together, these results suggest that amicoumacin A might cause perturbation of the cell membrane and lead to energy dissipation. Decreased rates of cellular metabolism including protein synthesis and DNA replication in resistant strains might allow cells to compensate for membrane dysfunction and thus increase cell survivability. Amicoumacin A, isolated from Bacillus pumilus, was added to exponentially growing cultures (OD600 =0.5) of Staphylococcus aureus COL at concentrations leading to around 12% and 20% reduction of OD600 after 10 min and 40 min, respectively. Total RNA was isolated from three biological replicates. Labeled cDNA from treated and control cultures (Cy5) was hybridized against a common reference cDNA pool (Cy3). The reference pool was prepared from a mixture of equal amounts of total RNA isolated from all stress and control samples in the experiment.
Project description:Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is becoming refractory to existing antibiotic therapy owing to the inherent ability of S. aureus to develop rapid resistance and is considered a major threat to public health. We found that a natural isolate of Bacillus pumilus from the Columbia River Estuary produces a strong anti-MRSA compound, amicoumacin A. As amicoumacin A has been reported to exhibit anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-ulcer activities, we sought to uncover its mechanism of action. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of S. aureus COL in response to amicoumacin A showed alteration in the expression of genes involved in several cellular processes including cell envelope turnover, cross-membrane transport, virulence, metabolism, and general stress response. The most highly induced gene was lrgA, encoding an antiholin-like product, which has been shown to be induced in response to a collapse of membrane potential. In order to gain further insight into the mechanism of action of amicoumacin A, a whole genome comparison of wild-type COL and amicoumacin A-resistant mutants isolated by serial passage method was carried out. Single point mutations resulting in codon substitutions were uncovered in several distinct genes: ksgA, RNA dimethyltranferase; fusA, elongation factor G; dnaG, primase, ; lacD, tagatose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, ; and SACOL0611, encoding a putative glycosyl transferase gene. Based on these results, a candidate approach was undertaken to recreate the same amino acid substitution individually in FusA and KsgA, each of which resulted in two-fold resistance towards amicoumacin A. The fusA gene is known as the site for fusidic acid- resistant mutations; however the codon substitutions in EF-G that cause amicoumacin A resistance and fusidic acid resistance occur in separate domains and do not bring about cross resistance. Taken together, these results suggest that amicoumacin A might cause perturbation of the cell membrane and lead to energy dissipation. Decreased rates of cellular metabolism including protein synthesis and DNA replication in resistant strains might allow cells to compensate for membrane dysfunction and thus increase cell survivability.
Project description:Daptomycin is a lipopeptide antibiotic that has recently been approved for treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. The mode of action of daptomycin is not yet entirely clear. To further understand the mechanism transcriptomic analysis of changes in gene expression in daptomycin-treated Staphylococcus aureus was carried out. The expression profile indicated that cell wall stress stimulon member genes (B. J. Wilkinson, A. Muthaiyan, and R. K. Jayaswal. 2005. Curr. Med. Chem. Anti-Infective Agents 4: 259-276) were significantly induced by daptomycin, and by the cell wall-active antibiotics vancomycin and oxacillin. Comparison of the daptomycin response of a two-component cell wall stress stimulon regulator VraSR mutant, S. aureus KVR, to its parent N315 showed diminished expression of the cell wall stress stimulon in the mutant. Daptomycin has been proposed to cause membrane depolarization, and the transcriptional responses to carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) and nisin were determined. Transcriptional profiles of the responses to these antimicrobial agents showed significantly different patterns compared to those of the cell wall-active antibiotics, including little or no induction of the cell wall stress stimulon. However, there were a significant number of genes induced by both CCCP and daptomycin that were not induced by oxacillin or vancomycin, such that the daptomycin transcriptome was probably reflecting a membrane depolarizing activity of this antimicrobial also. The results indicate that inhibition of peptidoglycan biosynthesis, either directly or indirectly, and membrane depolarization are parts of the mode of action of daptomycin. Keywords: mode of action, transcriptional profiling
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a highly adaptable human pathogen; therefore a constant search for new effective antibiotic compounds is being preformed. Gene expression profiling can be used to determine potential targets and mechanisms of action (MOA) of known or potential drugs. The goal of our study was a development of a focused transcriptome platform to be used for confirming the MOA of new chemical entities which are designed as inhibitors of Mur ligases. A model transcriptional profile was set up for well described inhibitor of MurA ligase, fosfomycin. Moreover, we wanted to identify the pathways and processes primarily affected by this compound. S. aureus ATCC 29213 cells were treated with low concentrations of fosfomycin (1 and 4 µg/ml, respectively) and harvested at 10, 20 and 40 minutes after treatment, respectively. RNA was isolated, transcribed, labeled and hybridized to S. aureus GeneChips, representing approximately 3000 S. aureus genes. Using meta-analysis of our results and the results in the S. aureus microarray database, we have confirmed that fosfomycin induces “cell wall stimulon” genes and were able to identify genes and pathways specifically modulated by fosfomycin.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus Newman and Staphylococcus epidermidis Tu3298, 20 minutes post challenge with sub-inhibitory concentration of sapienic acid vs equivalent concentration of ethanol. Challenge was added at mid logarithmic growth (OD600 0.5). Biological triplicates of samples were sequenced.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important pathogens in humans and animals, multiply resistant strains are increasingly widespread, new agents are needed for the treatment of S. aureus. Rhein, a natural plant product, has potential antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. We employed Affymetrix Staphylococcus aureus GeneChipsTM arrays to investigate the global transcriptional profiling of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 treated with rhein. Results provided insight into mechanisms involved in rhein - Staphylococcus aureus interactions. Keywords: rhein response
Project description:Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections result in more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths in the United States each year and remain an important medical challenge. A key factor of S. aureus pathogenesis is the production of virulence proteins that are secreted into the extracellular matrix damaging host tissues and forming abscesses that may serve as replicative niches for the bacteria. We recently discovered that host-derived cis-unsaturated fatty acids activate the transcription and translation of EsxA, a protein that plays a central role in abscess formation in clinically relevant MRSA strains. Additionally, we discovered that fatty acid stimulation of EsxA is dependent on fakA, a gene that encodes a protein responsible for the incorporation of exogenous fatty acids into the S. aureus phospholipid membrane. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of host-fatty-acid-sensing in S. aureus, we performed RNA-Seq analysis on WT Staphylococcus aureus USA300 NRS384, a community-acquired MRSA strain, in the presence and absence of 10μM linoleic acid.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important human and animal pathogen, multiply resistant strains are increasingly widespread, new agents are needed for the treatment of S. aureus. magnolol has potent antimicrobial activity against S. aureus. We employed Affymetrix Staphylococcus aureus GeneChipsTM arrays to investigate the global transcriptional profiling of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 treated with magnolol. Keywords: gene expression array-based, count