The cell wall polymer lipoteichoic acid becomes non-essential in Staphylococcus aureus cells lacking the ClpX chaperone
File(s)
Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Lipoteichoic acid is an essential component of the Staphylococcus aureus cell envelope and an attractive target for the development of vaccines and antimicrobials directed against antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. In this study, we showed that the lipoteichoic acid polymer is essential for growth of S. aureus only as long as the ClpX chaperone is present in the cell. Our results indicate that lipoteichoic acid and ClpX play opposite roles in a pathway that controls two key cell division processes in S. aureus, namely, septum formation and autolytic activity. The discovery of a novel functional connection in the genetic network that controls cell division in S. aureus may expand the repertoire of possible strategies to identify compounds or compound combinations that kill antibiotic-resistant S. aureus.
Date Issued
2016-08-09
Date Acceptance
2016-07-12
Citation
mBio, 2016, 7 (4)
ISSN
2150-7511
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Journal / Book Title
mBio
Volume
7
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Bæk et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
License URL
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Wellcome Trust
Grant Number
260371
100289/Z/12/Z
Subjects
0605 Microbiology
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e01228-16