Shi H, Tang J, An C, Yang L, Zhou X. Protein A of Staphylococcus aureus strain NCTC8325 interacted with heparin.
Arch Microbiol 2021;
203:2563-2573. [PMID:
33683394 DOI:
10.1007/s00203-021-02255-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Heparin, known for its anticoagulant activity, is commonly used as the coatings of medical devices. The attaching of Staphylococcus aureus, a prominent human and animal pathogen, to the heparin coatings usually leads to catheter-related bloodstream infections. Hence, the study of the interaction between heparin and S. aureus surface proteins is desired. Here, we found that protein A (SpA) of S. aureus was a heparin-binding protein, contributing to the interaction between S. aureus and heparin. The cell-wall-anchored SpA was one of the most critical S. aureus virulence factors with a lysin-like motif (LysM). When SpA was mutated to remove the LysM motif, the heparin-binding capability of SpA dropped 50%. The in-frame deletion of spa also reduced the heparin-binding capability of S. aureus. There was 1.3-fold more of heparin bound to wild type S. aureus than the Δspa::Em strain. These results would help understand the host-microbe interaction and the infection by S. aureus.
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