Abstract
BackgroundStaphylococcus aureus is a common human and animal opportunistic pathogen. In humans nasal carriage of S. aureus is a risk factor for various infections. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus ST398 is highly prevalent in pigs in Europe and North America. The mechanism of successful pig colonization by MRSA ST398 is poorly understood. Previously, we developed a nasal colonization model of porcine nasal mucosa explants to identify molecular traits involved in nasal MRSA colonization of pigs.ResultsWe report the analysis of changes in the transcription of MRSA ST398 strain S0462 during colonization on the explant epithelium. Major regulated genes were encoding metabolic processes and regulation of these genes may represent metabolic adaptation to nasal mucosa explants. Colonization was not accompanied by significant changes in transcripts of the main virulence associated genes or known human colonization factors. Here, we documented regulation of two genes which have potential influence on S. aureus colonization; cysteine extracellular proteinase (scpA) and von Willebrand factor-binding protein (vWbp, encoded on SaPIbov5). Colonization with isogenic-deletion strains (Δvwbp and ΔscpA) did not alter the ex vivo nasal S. aureus colonization compared to wild type.ConclusionsOur results suggest that nasal colonization with MRSA ST398 is a complex event that is accompanied with changes in bacterial gene expression regulation and metabolic adaptation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-915) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Staphylococcus aureus is a common human and animal opportunistic pathogen
Nasal carriage of S. aureus has been identified as a risk factor for the development of various infections in humans [1]
Persistence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) ST398 S0462 on porcine mucosa explants The ability of S. aureus to colonize porcine mucosa explants was defined as persistence or outgrowth of MRSA S0462 on the explants
Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is a common human and animal opportunistic pathogen. In humans nasal carriage of S. aureus is a risk factor for various infections. We developed a nasal colonization model of porcine nasal mucosa explants to identify molecular traits involved in nasal MRSA colonization of pigs. Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen colonizing the upper respiratory tract and skin of humans and other mammalian species. Nasal carriage of S. aureus has been identified as a risk factor for the development of various infections in humans [1]. The molecular mechanisms involved in S. aureus colonization have been mainly studied using human cell cultures [10] as well as rodent models [11,12]. S. aureus colonization involves many factors [13]. A crucial step of colonization is attachment to eukaryotic cells which involves several essential factors such as: clumping factor
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