Wall teichoic acids mediate increased virulence in Staphylococcus aureus

• Published in: Nature microbiology Vol. 2; no. 4; p. 16257
• Main Authors: Wanner, Stefanie, Schade, Jessica, Keinhörster, Daniela, Weller, Nicola, George, Shilpa E., Kull, Larissa, Bauer, Jochen, Grau, Timo, Winstel, Volker, Stoy, Henriette, Kretschmer, Dorothee, Kolata, Julia, Wolz, Christiane, Bröker, Barbara M., Weidenmaier, Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.01.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/250/255/1318; 631/326/325; 631/326/421; Abscess - microbiology; Animal models; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Wall - chemistry; Cell walls; Community-Acquired Infections - microbiology; Drug resistance; Infectious Diseases; Life Sciences; Lymphocytes T; Male; Medical Microbiology; Methicillin; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - chemistry; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - pathogenicity; Mice; Microbiology; Molecular modelling; Pandemics; Parasitology; Phenotypes; Skin; Skin - microbiology; Skin - pathology; Staphylococcal Skin Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus infections; Teichoic acids; Teichoic Acids - analysis; Teichoic Acids - biosynthesis; Virology; Virulence; Virulence Factors - biosynthesis
• ISSN: 2058-5276; 2058-5276
• DOI: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.257

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are the cause of a severe pandemic consisting primarily of skin and soft tissue infections. The underlying pathomechanisms have not been fully understood and we report here a mechanism that plays an important role for the elevated virulence of CA-MRSA. Surprisingly, skin abscess induction in an animal model was correlated with the amount of a major cell wall component of S. aureus , termed wall teichoic acid (WTA). CA-MRSA exhibited increased cell-wall-associated WTA content (WTA high ) and thus were more active in inducing abscess formation via a WTA-dependent and T-cell-mediated mechanism than S. aureus strains with a WTA low phenotype. We show here that WTA is directly involved in S. aureus strain-specific virulence and provide insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms that could guide the development of novel anti-infective strategies. Community-associated Staphylococcus aureus strains show heightened wall teichoic acid production, which correlates with virulence and abscess formation.