Abstract
The alpha toxin of Staphylococcus aureus is a pore forming toxin that penetrates host cell membranes causing osmotic swelling, rupture, lysis and subsequently cell death. Haemolysin alpha is toxic to a wide range of different mammalian cells; i.e., neurotoxic, dermonecrotic, haemolytic, and it can cause lethality in a wide variety of animals. In this study, the in vitro alpha toxin production of 648 previously genotyped isolates of S. aureus was measured quantitatively using antibody microarrays. Isolates originated from medical and veterinary settings and were selected in order to represent diverse clonal complexes and defined clinical conditions. Generally, the production of alpha toxin in vitro is related to the clonal complex affiliation. For clonal complexes CC22, CC30, CC45, CC479, CC705 and others, invariably no alpha toxin production was noted under the given in vitro conditions, while others, such as CC1, CC5, CC8, CC15 or CC96 secreted variable or high levels of alpha toxin. There was no correlation between alpha toxin yield and clinical course of the disease, or between alpha toxin yield and host species.
Highlights
Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is a gram-positive coccus that is an important commensal bacterium and pathogen in both, animals and humans
It is known to harbour, beside genes associated with drug resistance and adhesion to host tissues etc., a complex array of virulence factors that includes superantigens, exfoliative toxins, proteins that interfere with various functions of the host immune system, leukocidins and different haemolysins
Yield of Alpha Toxin and Affiliation to Clonal Complexes Generally, the yield of alpha toxin appears to be related to the clonal complexes (CC) affiliation
Summary
Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is a gram-positive coccus that is an important commensal bacterium and pathogen in both, animals and humans. S. aureus can cause a variety of different infections including localised skin and soft tissue infections, more severe conditions such as osteomyelitis or pneumonia and life-threatening endocarditis or septicaemia This bacterium can trigger toxinmediated diseases such as food intoxication, toxic shock and scalded skin syndromes. It is known to harbour, beside genes associated with drug resistance and adhesion to host tissues etc., a complex array of virulence factors that includes superantigens (toxic shock syndrome toxin, tst, and some 30 enterotoxin genes), exfoliative toxins, proteins that interfere with various functions of the host immune system (complement and chemotaxis inhibitors etc.), leukocidins (i.e., toxins that destroy white blood cells by formation of polymeric pores in cell membranes) and different haemolysins The latter are proteins that lyse amongst others red blood cells, allowing for instance the bacterium to scavenge iron compounds. In S. aureus, there are three major, well characterised haemolysins, named alpha, beta, and gamma, as well as additional genes that are assumed to encode for additional haemolysins (such as BA000017.4: locus tag SAV0919; base positions 962,930 to 963,970 or CP000046.1: locus tag SACOL2160; base positions 2,239,231 to 2,239,914)
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