Expression of type II toxin-antitoxin systems and ClpP protease of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus under thermal and oxidative stress conditions

• Published in: Iranian journal of microbiology Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 204 - 211
• Main Authors: Karimaei, Samira, Kalani, Behrooz Sadeghi, Shahrokhi, Nader, Mashhadi, Rahil, Pourmand, Mohammad Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran Tehran University of Medical Sciences 01.04.2021
• Subjects: Cold-shock response; Heat-shock response; Original; Oxidative stress; Staphylococcus aureus; Toxin-antitoxin systems; Heat-shock response; Cold-shock response; Oxidative stress; Staphylococcus aureus; Toxin-antitoxin systems
• ISSN: 2008-3289; 2008-4447
• DOI: 10.18502/ijm.v13i2.5982

is a main human pathogen that causes a variety of chronic to persistent infections. Across the diverse factors of pathogenesis in bacteria, Toxin-Antitoxin (TA) systems can be considered as an anti-bacterial target due to their involvement in cellular physiology counting stress responses. Here, the expression of TA system genes and ClpP protease was investigated under the thermal and oxidative conditions in strains. The colony-forming unit (CFU) was used to determine the effects of thermal and oxidative stresses on bacterial survival. Moreover, the expressions of TA system genes in strains were evaluated 30 min and 1 h after thermal and oxidative stresses, respectively, by quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The cell viability was constant across thermal stress while oxidative stress induction showed a significantly decrease in the growth of Methicillin-Resistant (MRSA) strain. Based on the qRT-PCR results, the expression of gene increased under both thermal and oxidative stresses in the MRSA strain. A putative TA system (namely ) most likely has a role under the stress condition of . The MRSA strain responds to stress by shifting the expression level of TA genes that has diverse effects on the survival of the pathogen due to the stress conditions. The TA systems may be introduced as potential targets for antibacterial treatment.