Abstract
Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are skin commensal bacteria. Besides their role in maintaining homeostasis, CoNS have emerged as major pathogens in nosocomial settings. Several studies have investigated the molecular basis for this emergence and identified multiple putative virulence factors with regards to Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity. In the last decade, numerous CoNS whole-genome sequences have been released, leading to the identification of numerous putative virulence factors. Koch’s postulates and the molecular rendition of these postulates, established by Stanley Falkow in 1988, do not explain the microbial pathogenicity of CoNS. However, whole-genome sequence data has shed new light on CoNS pathogenicity. In this review, we analyzed the contribution of genomics in defining CoNS virulence, focusing on the most frequent and pathogenic CoNS species: S. epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, S. saprophyticus, S. capitis, and S. lugdunensis.
Highlights
Bacterial virulence is a complex concept that must be considered from the clinical, molecular, and genomic perspectives
We focused this systematic review on the major Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) pathogens for which such data have been published: S. epidermidis, S. lugdunensis, S. saprophyticus, S. haemolyticus, S. caprae, and S. capitis
We searched for the following species: “Staphylococcus epidermidis”, “Staphylococcus lugdunensis”, “Staphylococcus capitis”, “Staphylococcus caprae”, “Staphylococcus haemolyticus”, and “Staphylococcus saprophyticus”
Summary
Bacterial virulence is a complex concept that must be considered from the clinical, molecular, and genomic perspectives. Robert Koch postulates illustrated bacterial virulence, which Stanley Falkow redefined in the late 1980s to provide a molecular version of it [1]. The development of rapid and cost-effective genome sequencing technologies has provided the opportunity, among others, to discover a wide range of genes that could be linked to bacterial pathogenicity. This ability to determine the pathogenic capacities of a bacterium from its genome is known as pathogenomics [2]. Some virulence factors retain the definition of Stanley Falkow, with a direct causative link with bacterial pathogenicity and some possible clinical manifestations.
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