Occurrence of a Complex Form of Staphylokinase in the Course of Cultivation of Staphylococcus aureus

Proteins in the culture supernatant of Staphylococcus aureus PS 47 were subjected to Sephadex chromatography. In the early stage of the cultivation, staphylokinase appeared to have a molecular weight of 15,000 and in the later stage it appeared to have a molecular weight of 320,000. The staphylokinase having a lower molecular weight (type A) converted into one having a higher value (type B) during the course of cultivation. It was demonstrated that conversion of type A into type B took place in vitro (monitored by gel filtration after the two types of staphylokinases were mixed), and it was observed that type B reverted to type A when type B was treated with KCl or detergent. Type B seems to be a complex form of type A and some high-molecular-weight substance.     

Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The evolution and molecular mechanisms of vancomycin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus were reviewed. Case reports and research studies on biochemestry, electron microscopy and molecular biology of Staphylococcus aureus were selected from Medline database and summarized in the following review. After almost 40 years of successful treatment of S. aureus with vancomycin, several cases of clinical failures have been reported (since 1997). S. aureus strains have appeared with intermediate susceptibility (MIC 8-16 microg/ml), as well as strains with heterogeneous resistance (global MIC < or =4 microg/ml), but with subpopulations of intermediate susceptibility. In these cases, resistance is mediated by cell wall thickening with reduced cross linking. This traps the antibiotic before it reaches its major target, the murein monomers in the cell membrane. In 2002, a total vancomycin resistant strain (MIC > or =32 microg/ml) was reported with vanA genes from Enterococcus spp. These genes induce the change of D-Ala-D-Ala terminus for D-Ala-D-lactate in the cell wall precursors, leading to loss of affinity for glycopeptides. Vancomycin resistance in S. aureus has appeared; it is mediated by cell wall modifications that trap the antibiotic before it reaches its action site. In strains with total resistance, Enterococcus spp. genes have been acquired that lead to modification of the glycopeptide target.     

金黄色葡萄球菌溶血素的研究进展

金黄色葡萄球菌简称金葡菌,是一类革兰阳性需氧或兼性厌氧菌,可导致化脓性感染、肺炎、伪膜性肠炎、心包炎等局部感染,以及败血症、脓毒血症等全身感染。金黄色葡萄球菌的致病力强弱主要取决其产生的毒素和侵袭性酶,其中溶血素已经成为该细菌的一个重要致病因子。本文对金黄色葡萄球菌溶血素的分子特征、作用机制、免疫预防及临床应用方面的研究进展进行综述。     

Staphylococcus aureus surface protein SasG contributes to intercellular autoaggregation of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus surface protein G (SasG) is one of cell surface proteins with cell-wall sorting motif. The sasG mutant showed significantly reduced cell aggregation and biofilm formation. SasG is comprised of variable A domain and multiple tandem repeats of B domain, native-PAGE and in vitro formaldehyde cross-linking experiments revealed that the recombinant protein of the A domain showed homo-oligomerization as an octamer, but B domain did not. This study shows that SasG-A domain contributes to intercellular autoaggregation by homo-oligomerization, and that may facilitate the adherence to host-tissues in the infection of S. aureus.     

金黄色葡萄球菌肠毒素

金黄色葡萄球菌是一种重要的病原体,它产生多种类型的毒素,从而引起各种类型的疾病。金黄色葡萄球菌肠毒素(Staphylococcal enterotoxins,SEs),是一组血清学上互不相同的热稳定肠毒素,有10个血清型。由于食入了被SEs污染的食品而主要引起肠胃炎,此外,SEs还是一种强的超抗原,它可以刺激非特异性T细胞增殖。SEs各型之间有着相似的结构和功能。     

Staphylococcus aureus: a blemish on skin immunity

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of human skin infections. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, new research probes how a change in surface hydrophobicity mediated by a single S. aureus protein renders the pathogen resistant to key molecular effectors of skin innate immunity, including cationic antimicrobial peptides and fatty acid constituents of sebum. Novel treatment strategies for S. aureus infection may lie in supplementing the very same innate defense molecules to therapeutic levels.     

FemA of Staphylococcus aureus: Isolation and immunodetection

Abstract FemA, a cytoplasmic protein necessary for the expression of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus and also involved in the biosynthesis of staphylococcal cell walls, was detected and quantified in several S. aureus strains under different growth conditions by Western immunoblot. Two types of antigens were used for the production of polyclonal antibodies against FemA: (i) a synthetic peptide comprising 14 amino acids of its C-terminal sequence; and (ii) FemA isolated by preparative gel electrophoresis and electroelution from an overproducing staphylococcal strain. Immunodetection revealed that all investigated strains, either methicillin-resistant or susceptible, expressed FemA during the exponential growth phase in varying amounts. In the stationary phase, the FemA content was diminished. Strains in which femA was inactivated by insertion of Tn557 into the control region of the fem AB operon still expressed about 10% of the protein compared to their parent strains. Tn55 I insertion in the middle of the fem B gene did not affect the FemA expression. In 40 methicillin-susceptible and 6 resistant clinical isolates of S. aureus , the FemA content or its affinity to the antibodies was reduced compared to laboratory parent strains. In susceptible strains, an additional protein of higher molecular weight, present in large quantities, was also able to bind the FemA antibodies. Such a protein was also present in methicillin-resistant isolates, although it was not as pronounced as in the susceptible strains.     

Staphylococcus aureus H Autolytic Activity: General Properties

Staphylococcus aureus strain H has an autolytic activity which can be found in the cell wall but is most easily obtained from high-speed supernatant fractions of broken-cell preparations. As measured either turbidimetrically or radioactively, this activity is much greater on murein extracted from penicillin-treated cells than on murein extracted from normal cells.     

Macrolide Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

A heat-inducible mutant, resistant to macrolide antibiotics (Mac), was isolated from Staphylococcus aureus MS537 in which Mac-resistance was induced by subinhibitory concentrations of erythromycin (EM). After induction at 42 C, this mutant acquired a high resistance to both Mac and lincomycin (LMC). Transduction and biochemical studies revealed that spiramycin (SP)-resistance in this mutant was induced by exposure to a high temperature (42 C) or by treatment with EM in broth but not in phosphate buffer. Induction did not take place when chloramphenicol (CM) was added to the induction mixture. Ribosomes from the mutant cultured at 42 C decreased their affinity for SP and consequently polypeptide synthesis on such ribosomes was not inhibited by SP, when compared with those cultured at 30 C. From these results, it was concluded that alteration of ribosomes took place after induction by exposure at high temperatures or by EM-treatment and that the mechanism of SP-resistance after induction was accounted for by a decrease in SP-binding to ribosomes.     

Macrolide Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

It was demonstrated that spiramycin (SP)-resistance could be related to the decrease in binding of ribosomes to SP and that the SP-binding to ribosomes was related with inhibition of polypeptide synthesis by SP in a cell-free system in staphylococcal strains. These facts were also observed in Mac (macrolide)-inducible strains, in which resistance to Mac antibiotics is enhanced by prior treatment with subinhibitory concentrations of erythromycin. From these results, it was concluded that the mechanism of resistance to Mac antibiotics is accounted for by alteration of ribosomes in staphylococcal strains and that this alteration of ribosomes is caused not only by mutation but also by induction.     

Prevention of Staphylococcus aureus lysis

Staphylococcus aureus S-6 cells grown in chemically defined media often lysed after exponential growth. Lysis could be prevented by the addition of alanine or proline before the culture reached stationary phase.     

Staphylococcus aureus mobile genetic elements

Among the bacteria groups, most of them are known to be beneficial to human being whereas only a minority is being recognized as harmful. The pathogenicity of bacteria is due, in part, to their rapid adaptation in the presence of selective pressures exerted by the human host. In addition, through their genomes, bacteria are subject to mutations, various rearrangements or horizontal gene transfer among and/or within bacterial species. Bacteria’s essential metabolic functions are generally encoding by the core genes. Apart of the core genes, there are several number of mobile genetic elements (MGE) acquired by horizontal gene transfer that might be beneficial under certain environmental conditions. These MGE namely bacteriophages, transposons, plasmids, and pathogenicity islands represent about 15 % Staphylococcus aureus genomes. The acquisition of most of the MGE is made by horizontal genomic islands (GEI), recognized as discrete DNA segments between closely related strains, transfer. The GEI contributes to the wide spread of microorganisms with an important effect on their genome plasticity and evolution. The GEI are also involve in the antibiotics resistance and virulence genes dissemination. In this review, we summarize the mobile genetic elements of S. aureus.     

金黄色葡萄球菌耐药性变迁

为了解 1 999～ 2 0 0 3年临床分离金黄色葡萄球菌耐药性的变迁情况 ,采用K B方法和微量肉汤稀释法 ,对 1 999年 1月至 2 0 0 3年 1 2月临床分离的 42 3株金黄色葡萄球菌进行药敏试验 ;耐药率的显著性比较采用x2 检验。结果显示 ,1 999～ 2 0 0 3年从临床送检标本中共分离出金黄色葡萄球菌 42 3株。 2 0 0 2～ 2 0 0 3年MRSA的分离率为 1 9.7% (2 9/ 1 47)有增加趋势 ,高于 1 999～ 2 0 0 0年度分离率 1 7.5 % (3 3 / 1 89)。在 2 0 0 2～2 0 0 3年间MSSA对头孢吡肟、环丙沙星、左旋氧氟沙星、复方新诺明、氯霉素和庆大霉素的耐药率分别为0 .0 % ,4.6% ,2 .3 % ,1 .3 % ,6.8%和 2 1 .8%。而对青霉素、红霉素和克林霉素耐药率较高 ,为 5 1 .9% ,70 .4%和 41 .3 %。与 1 999～ 2 0 0 0年比较 ,MSSA对青霉素G、环丙沙星、四环素和复方新诺明的耐药率明显下降 ,p <0 .0 5。 5a间未发现耐万古霉素和替考拉宁菌株。 1 999～ 2 0 0 3年MRSA发生率有增加趋势。耐药性监测有助于遏制抗菌药物的耐药问题。