en
Scientific article
Open access
English

Staphylococcus epidermidis SrrAB regulates bacterial growth and biofilm formation differently under oxic and microaerobic conditions

Published inJournal of bacteriology, vol. 197, no. 3, p. 459-476
Publication date2015
Abstract

SrrAB expression in Staphylococcus epidermidis strain 1457 (SE1457) was upregulated during a shift from oxic to microaerobic conditions. An srrA deletion (ΔsrrA) mutant was constructed for studying the regulatory function of SrrAB. The deletion resulted in retarded growth and abolished biofilm formation both in vitro and in vivo and under both oxic and microaerobic conditions. Associated with the reduced biofilm formation, the ΔsrrA mutant produced much less polysaccharide intercellular adhesion (PIA) and showed decreased initial adherence capacity. Microarray analysis showed that the srrA mutation affected transcription of 230 genes under microaerobic conditions, and 51 genes under oxic conditions. Quantitative real-time PCR confirmed this observation and showed downregulation of genes involved in maintaining the electron transport chain by supporting cytochrome and quinol-oxidase assembly (e.g., qoxB and ctaA) and in anaerobic metabolism (e.g., pflBA and nrdD). In the ΔsrrA mutant, the expression of the biofilm formation-related gene icaR was upregulated under oxic conditions and downregulated under microaerobic conditions, whereas icaA was downregulated under both conditions. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay further revealed that phosphorylated SrrA bound to the promoter regions of icaR, icaA, qoxB, and pflBA, as well as its own promoter region. These findings demonstrate that in S. epidermidis SrrAB is an autoregulator and regulates biofilm formation in an ica-dependent manner. Under oxic conditions, SrrAB modulates electron transport chain activity by positively regulating qoxBACD transcription. Under microaerobic conditions, it regulates fermentation processes and DNA synthesis by modulating the expression of both the pfl operon and nrdDG.

Keywords
  • Aerobiosis
  • Anaerobiosis
  • Bacterial Adhesion
  • Biofilms/growth & development
  • DNA, Bacterial/metabolism
  • Electron Transport
  • Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Microarray Analysis
  • Oxygen/metabolism
  • Polysaccharides, Bacterial/metabolism
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Protein Binding
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Staphylococcus epidermidis/drug effects/genetics/growth & development/physiology
  • Transcription Factors/genetics/metabolism
Citation (ISO format)
WU, Youcong et al. Staphylococcus epidermidis SrrAB regulates bacterial growth and biofilm formation differently under oxic and microaerobic conditions. In: Journal of bacteriology, 2015, vol. 197, n° 3, p. 459–476. doi: 10.1128/JB.02231-14
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Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0021-9193
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494downloads

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