A new oxidative sensing and regulation pathway mediated by the MgrA homologue SarZ in Staphylococcus aureus

作者：Chen Peng R; Nishida Satoshi; Poor Catherine B; Cheng Alice; Bae Taeok; Kuechenmeister Lisa; Dunman Paul M; Missiakas Dominique; He Chuan^*

来源：Molecular Microbiology, 2009, 71(1): 198-211.

DOI：10.1111/j.1365-2958.2008.06518.x

Oxidative stress serves as an important host/environmental signal that triggers a wide range of responses from the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Among these, a thiol-based oxidation sensing pathway through a global regulator MgrA controls the virulence and antibiotic resistance of the bacterium. Herein, we report a new thiol-based oxidation sensing and regulation system that is mediated through a parallel global regulator SarZ. SarZ is a functional homologue of MgrA and is shown to affect the expression of similar to 87 genes in S. aureus. It uses a key Cys residue, Cys-13, to sense oxidative stress and to co-ordinate the expression of genes involved in metabolic switching, antibiotic resistance, peroxide stress defence, virulence, and cell wall properties. The discovery of this SarZ-mediated regulation, mostly independent from the MgrA-based regulation, fills a missing gap of oxidation sensing and response in S. aureus.

• 出版日期2009-1