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  • Accepted Manuscript: Contribution of YjbIH to virulence factor expression and host colonization in Staphylococcus aureus
Title: Contribution of YjbIH to virulence factor expression and host colonization in Staphylococcus aureus
To persist within the host and cause disease, Staphylococcus aureus relies on its ability to precisely fine-tune virulence factor expression in response to rapidly-changing environments. During an unbiased transposon mutant screen, we observed that disruption of the two-gene operon, yjbIH , resulted in decreased pigmentation and aureolysin activity relative to the wild-type strain. Further analyses revealed that YjbH, a predicted thioredoxin-like oxidoreductase, is mostly responsible for the observed yjbIH mutant phenotypes, though a minor role exists for the putative truncated hemoglobin YjbI. These differences were due to significantly decreased expression of crtOPQMN and aur . Previous studies found that YjbH targets the disulfide- and oxidative-stress responsive regulator Spx for degradation by ClpXP. The absence of yjbH or yjbI resulted in altered sensitivities to nitrosative and oxidative stress and iron deprivation. Additionally, aconitase activity was altered in the yjbH and yjbI mutant strains. Decreased pigmentation and Aur activity in the yjbH mutant was found to be Spx-dependent. Lastly, we used a murine sepsis model to determine the effect of the yjbIH deletion on pathogenesis and found that the mutant was better able to colonize the kidneys and spleens during an acute infection than the wild-type strain. These studies identify changes in more » pigmentation and protease activity in response to YjbIH and are the first to show a role for these proteins during infection. « less
Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Award ID(s):
1750624
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10093136
Journal Name:
Infection and Immunity
ISSN:
0019-9567
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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