Sensory deprivation in Staphylococcus aureus

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 523 - 12
• Main Authors: Villanueva, Maite, García, Begoña, Valle, Jaione, Rapún, Beatriz, Ruiz de los Mozos, Igor, Solano, Cristina, Martí, Miguel, Penadés, José R., Toledo-Arana, Alejandro, Lasa, Iñigo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.02.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45; 45/43; 631/326/325/2482; 631/326/41; 631/80/86; 96/95; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Cues; Environmental changes; Environmental conditions; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Genomes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; multidisciplinary; Niches; Pathogens; Replication; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensory deprivation; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Staphylococcus aureus - growth & development; Staphylococcus aureus - physiology
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02949-y

Bacteria use two-component systems (TCSs) to sense and respond to environmental changes. The core genome of the major human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus encodes 16 TCSs, one of which (WalRK) is essential. Here we show that S. aureus can be deprived of its complete sensorial TCS network and still survive under growth arrest conditions similarly to wild-type bacteria. Under replicating conditions, however, the WalRK system is necessary and sufficient to maintain bacterial growth, indicating that sensing through TCSs is mostly dispensable for living under constant environmental conditions. Characterization of S. aureus derivatives containing individual TCSs reveals that each TCS appears to be autonomous and self-sufficient to sense and respond to specific environmental cues, although some level of cross-regulation between non-cognate sensor-response regulator pairs occurs in vivo. This organization, if confirmed in other bacterial species, may provide a general evolutionarily mechanism for flexible bacterial adaptation to life in new niches. Bacteria use two-component systems (TCSs) to sense and respond to environmental changes. Here, the authors show that Staphylococcus aureus can survive in the absence of all its 16 TCSs under growth arrest conditions, and each TCS seems to be sufficient to sense and respond to specific environmental clues.