Identification of Staphylococcus aureus colony-spreading stimulatory factors from mammalian serum

Detection of Atypical Motile Staphylococcus aureus from Rain Floods

Abstract: Heavy rain floods is one of the primary risk factors for human health, and it can significantly regulate microbial communities and enhance the transfer of infections within the affected areas. Recently, the flood crisis is becoming one of the severe natural events in Mosul / Iraq. It may continue for months during which samples of accumulated rainwater were collected. Twelve Staphylococcus aureus were isolated by using two selective media: Mannitol Salt agar and Vogel-Johnson media in addition to Blood agar. An unusual colony spreading which resembles. "Bacillus colonies in twelve Staphylococcus aureus isolates was observed on Mannitol Salt agar and semisolid nutrient agar. Actively motile cocci in single and cluster arrangements that is not characteristic of brownian movement was shown in wet mount microscopic observation Furthermore, biosurfactant detection by oil spreading method ( oil displacement activity) showed that all isolates demonstrated various degrees of surfactant production which has beeen reported. to be responsible for stimulating "colony spreading" phenomenon in S. aureux. Motility can play a crucial role for survival bacterial species by which they get nutrients, avoid toxins and predators, and genetic information exchange by mating. The present study highlights for the first time. Mosul city a motile opportunistic aureus obtained from harvested rainwater samples during high-rainfall periods. Utilization of untreated harvested rainwater could thus offer a significant health threat to consumers, especially children. and immunocompromised individuals.

Involvement of Heme in Colony Spreading of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus spreads rapidly on the surface of soft agar medium. The spreading depends on the synthesis of biosurfactants, i.e., phenol soluble modulins (PSMs), which facilitate colony spreading of S. aureus. Our earlier study demonstrated that water accumulates in a colony is important to modulate colony spreading of S. aureus. The current study screened a transposon-based mutant library of S. aureus HG001 and obtained four non-spreading mutants with mutations in hemY and ctaA, which are involved in heme synthesis. The spreading ability of these mutants was restored when the mutants are transformed with a plasmid encoding hemY or ctaA, respectively. HemY mutants, which do not synthesize heme B, were able to spread on agar medium supplemented with hemin, a heme B derivative. By contrast, hemin supplementation did not rescue the spreading of the ctaA mutant, which lacks heme B and heme A, indicating that heme A is also critical for colony spreading. Moreover, mutations in hemY and ctaA had little effect on PSMs production but affect ATP production and water accumulation in the colony. In conclusion, this study sheds light on the role of heme synthesis and energy production in the regulation of S. aureus colony spreading, which is important for understanding the movement mechanisms of bacteria lacking a motor apparatus.

Defining motility in the Staphylococci

The ability of bacteria to move is critical for their survival in diverse environments and multiple ways have evolved to achieve this. Two forms of motility have recently been described for Staphylococcus aureus, an organism previously considered to be non-motile. One form is called spreading, which is a type of sliding motility and the second form involves comet formation, which has many observable characteristics associated with gliding motility. Darting motility has also been observed in Staphylococcus epidermidis. This review describes how motility is defined and how we distinguish between passive and active motility. We discuss the characteristics of the various forms of Staphylococci motility, the molecular mechanisms involved and the potential future research directions.

Cell-Surface Phenol Soluble Modulins Regulate Staphylococcus aureus Colony Spreading

Staphylococcus aureus produces phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs), which are amphipathic small peptides with lytic activity against mammalian cells. We previously reported that PSMα1-4 stimulate S. aureus colony spreading, the phenomenon of S. aureus colony expansion on the surface of soft agar plates, whereas δ-toxin (Hld, PSMγ) inhibits colony-spreading activity. In this study, we revealed the underlying mechanism of the opposing effects of PSMα1-4 and δ-toxin in S. aureus colony spreading. PSMα1-4 and δ-toxin are abundant on the S. aureus cell surface, and account for 18% and 8.5% of the total amount of PSMα1-4 and δ-toxin, respectively, in S. aureus overnight cultures. Knockout of PSMα1-4 did not affect the amount of cell surface δ-toxin. In contrast, knockout of δ-toxin increased the amount of cell surface PSMα1-4, and decreased the amount of culture supernatant PSMα1-4. The δ-toxin inhibited PSMα3 and PSMα2 binding to the S. aureus cell surface in vitro. A double knockout strain of PSMα1-4 and δ-toxin exhibited decreased colony spreading compared with the parent strain. Expression of cell surface PSMα1-4, but not culture supernatant PSMα1-4, restored the colony-spreading activity of the PSMα1-4/δ-toxin double knockout strain. Expression of δ-toxin on the cell surface or in the culture supernatant did not restore the colony-spreading activity of the PSMα1-4/δ-toxin double knockout strain. These findings suggest that cell surface PSMα1-4 promote S. aureus colony spreading, whereas δ-toxin suppresses colony-spreading activity by inhibiting PSMα1-4 binding to the S. aureus cell surface.

Modulation of Staphylococcus aureus spreading by water

Staphylococcus aureus is known to spread rapidly and form giant colonies on the surface of soft agar and animal tissues by a process called colony spreading. So far, the mechanisms underlying spreading remain poorly understood. This study investigated the spreading phenomenon by culturing S. aureus and its mutant derivatives on Tryptic Soy Agarose (TSA) medium. We found that S. aureus extracts water from the medium and floats on water at 2.5 h after inoculation, which could be observed using phase contrast microscopy. The floating of the bacteria on water could be verified by confocal microscopy using an S. aureus strain that constitutively expresses green fluorescence protein. This study also found that as the density of bacterial colony increases, a quorum sensing response is triggered, resulting in the synthesis of the biosurfactants, phenolic-soluble modulins (PSMs), which weakens water surface tension, causing water to flood the medium surface to allow the bacteria to spread rapidly. This study reveals a mechanism that explains how an organism lacking a flagellar motor is capable of spreading rapidly on a medium surface, which is important to the understanding of how S. aureus spreads in human tissues to cause infections.