Project description:The staphylococcal accessory regulator A (sarA) impacts the extracellular accumulation of Staphylococcus aureus virulence factors at the level of intracellular production and extracellular protease-mediated degradation. To assess the relative impact of these two functions, we previously used a proteomics approach that measures protein abundance as a function of all proteoforms to demonstrate that mutation of sarA results in increased levels of extracellular proteases and assess the impact of this on the accumulation of S. aureus exoproteins1. While this approach confirmed that protease-mediated degradation has a significant impact on the S. aureus exoproteome, it was potentially limited in that it did not take into account the possibility that large, stable proteolytic products from a given protein could result in false negatives when quantified by total proteoforms. Here, we present an expanded proteomics approach that utilizes a dual quantitative method for measuring abundance at both the total proteoform and full-length exoprotein levels. Specifically, proteins present in conditioned medium from overnight, stationary phase cultures of the USA300 strain LAC, an isogenic sarA mutant, and a sarA mutant unable to produce any of the known extracellular proteases (sarA/protease) were resolved using one-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Using methods that focus on total proteoforms vs. methods that focus specifically on full-length proteins, quantitative proteomic comparisons of sarA vs sarA/protease mutants identified proteins that were degraded in a protease dependent manner owing to mutation of sarA, while comparisons of a sarA/protease mutant vs the LAC parent strain identified proteins in which abundance was altered in a sarA mutant in a protease-independent manner. Furthermore, the proteins uniquely identified by the full-length data analysis approach eliminated false negatives observed in the total proteoform analysis. This approach provided for a more comprehensive and robust analysis of the impact of mutating sarA and protease-mediated degradation on the S. aureus exoproteome.
Project description:The purpose of this study was to compare the global, growth phase-dependent transcriptional profiles of two isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. One isolate is a prototypic laboratory strain named RN6390, and has been used frequently as a model organism for study of staphylococcal physiology and virulence. However, recent studies indicate that RN6390 is not, in general, genotypically or phenotypically representative of clinical isolates of Staphyloccos aureus. Therefore, there is no current comprehensive picture of gene expression patterns in a virulent, clinical isolate of Staphyloccous aureus. For these reasons, we compare the transcriptional profile of RN6390 to that of a virulent clinical isolate, UAMS-1. Also included in this study is profiling of two UAMS-1 regulatory mutants, UAMS-155, and UAMS-929. These strains possess mutations in the accessory gene regulator (agr) and staphylococcal accessory regulator (sarA) genes, respectively. These two genes are well described global regulatory molecules that are reported to play important roles in controlling virulence factor production and biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus. However, most study of these two molecules has been limited to laboratory strains such as RN6390. For these reasons, this study also includes transcriptional profiling of UAMS agr and sarA mutants. Keywords: Comparative, growth phase-dependent transcriptional profiling of bacterial strains and isogenic regulatory mutants
Project description:SarA, a transcriptional regulator of Staphylococcus aureus, is a major global regulatory system that coordinates the expression of target genes involved in its pathogenicity. Various studies have identified a large number of SarA target genes, but an in-depth characterization of the sarA regulon, including small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), has not yet been done. In this study, we utilized transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to determine a comprehensive list of SarA-regulated targets, including both mRNAs and sRNAs. RNA-Seq analysis indicated 390 mRNAs and 51 sRNAs differentially expressed in a ΔsarA mutant, while ChIP-Seq revealed 354 mRNAs and 55 sRNA targets in the S. aureus genome. We confirmed the authenticity of several novel SarA targets by Northern blotting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Among them, we characterized repression of sprG2, a gene that encodes the toxin of a type I toxin-antitoxin system, indicating a multilayer lockdown of toxin expression by both SarA and its cognate antitoxin, SprF2. Finally, a novel SarA consensus DNA binding sequence was generated using the upstream promoter sequences of 15 novel SarA-regulated sRNA targets. A genome-wide scan with a deduced SarA motif enabled the discovery of new potential SarA target genes which were not identified in our RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analyses. The strength of this new consensus was confirmed with one predicted sRNA target. The RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq combinatory analysis gives a snapshot of the regulation, whereas bioinformatic analysis reveals a permanent view of targets based on sequence. Altogether these experimental and in silico methodologies are effective to characterize transcriptional factor (TF) regulons and functions. IMPORTANCE Staphylococcus aureus, a commensal and opportunist pathogen, is responsible for a large number of human and animal infections, from benign to severe. Gene expression adaptation during infection requires a complex network of regulators, including transcriptional factors (TF) and sRNAs. TF SarA influences virulence, metabolism, biofilm formation, and resistance to some antibiotics. SarA directly regulates expression of around 20 mRNAs and a few sRNAs. Here, we combined high-throughput expression screening methods combined with binding assays and bioinformatics for an in-depth investigation of the SarA regulon. This combinatory approach allowed the identification of 85 unprecedented mRNAs and sRNAs targets, with at least 14 being primary. Among novel SarA direct targets, we characterized repression of sprG2, a gene that encodes the toxin of a toxin-antitoxin system, indicating a multilayer lockdown of toxin expression by both SarA and its cognate antitoxin, SprF2.