Altered Growth, Pigmentation, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Properties of Staphylococcus aureus Due to Loss of the Major Cold Shock Gene cspB

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Brea D. Duval, Emory University; Anselmo Mathew, Emory University; Sarah Satola, Emory University; William M Shafer, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2010-06
• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2010, American Society for Microbiology
• Final Published Version (URL): http://aac.asm.org/content/54/6/2283
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
• Volume: 54
• Issue: 6
• Start Page: 2283
• End Page: 2290
• Grant/Funding Information: W.M.S. is the recipient of a Senior Research Career Scientist Award from the Veterans Affairs Research Service.; S.S. is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infections Program.; This work was supported by NIH grant AI043316 and funds from a VA Merit Award from the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs, both to W.M.S.
• Research Categories: Biology, Microbiology; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

An insertional mutation made in the major cold shock gene cspB in Staphylococcus aureus strain COL, a methicillin-resistant clinical isolate, yielded a mutant that displayed a reduced capacity to respond to cold shock and many phenotypic characteristics of S. aureus small-colony variants: a growth defect at 37°C, a reduction in pigmentation, and altered levels of susceptibility to many antimicrobials. In particular, a cspB null mutant displayed increased resistance to aminoglycosides, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and paraquat and increased susceptibility to daptomycin, teicoplanin, and methicillin. With the exception of the increased susceptibility to methicillin, which was due to a complete loss of the type I staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element, these properties were restored to wild-type levels by complementation when cspB was expressed in trans. Taken together, our results link a stress response protein (CspB) of S. aureus to important phenotypic properties that include resistance to certain antimicrobials.