scholarly journals Mutations inmmpLand in the Cell Wall Stress Stimulon Contribute to Resistance to Oxadiazole Antibiotics in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 5841-5847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaobin Xiao ◽  
Sergei Vakulenko ◽  
Mayland Chang ◽  
Shahriar Mobashery

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureusis a leading cause of hospital- and community-acquired infections, which exhibit broad resistance to various antibiotics. We recently disclosed the discovery of the oxadiazole class of antibiotics, which hasin vitroandin vivoactivities against methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA). We report herein that MmpL, a putative member of the resistance, nodulation, and cell division (RND) family of proteins, contributes to oxadiazole resistance in theS. aureusstrain COL. Through serial passages, we generated twoS. aureusCOL variants that showed diminished susceptibilities to an oxadiazole antibiotic. The MICs for the oxadiazole against one strain (designatedS. aureusCOLI) increased reproducibly 2-fold (to 4 μg/ml), while against the other strain (S. aureusCOLR), they increased >4-fold (to >8 μg/ml, the limit of solubility). The COLRstrain was derived from the COLIstrain. Whole-genome sequencing revealed 31 mutations inS. aureusCOLR, of which 29 were shared with COLI. Consistent with our previous finding that oxadiazole antibiotics inhibit cell wall biosynthesis, we found 13 mutations that occurred either in structural genes or in promoters of the genes of the cell wall stress stimulon. Two unique mutations inS. aureusCOLRwere substitutions in two genes that encode the putative thioredoxin (SACOL1794) and MmpL (SACOL2566). A role formmpLin resistance to oxadiazoles was discerned from gene deletion and complementation experiments. To our knowledge, this is the first report that a cell wall-acting antibiotic selects for mutations in the cell wall stress stimulon and the first to implicate MmpL in resistance to antibiotics inS. aureus.

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (22) ◽  
pp. 7954-7959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Levinger ◽  
Tamar Bikels-Goshen ◽  
Elad Landau ◽  
Merav Fichman ◽  
Roni Shapira

ABSTRACTWe previously found that a short exposure ofStaphylococcus aureusto subinhibitory (SI) doses of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) results in increased cell wall thickness, adaptation, and enhanced tolerance to cell-wall-targeted antibiotics. In this study, the response to EGCG ofsigBandvraSRtranscription factor mutants was characterized. We show that in contrast to the results observed for wild-type (WT) strains, anS. aureus315vraSRnull mutant exposed to SI doses of EGCG did not exhibit increased tolerance to EGCG and oxacillin. A diminished increase in tolerance to ampicillin (from 16-fold to 4-fold) and no change in the magnitude of resistance to vancomycin were observed. Preexposure to EGCG enhanced the tolerance of wild-type andsigBnull mutant cells to lysostaphin, but this enhancement was much weaker in thevraSRnull mutant. Marked upregulation (about 60-fold) ofvraRand upregulation of the peptidoglycan biosynthesis-associated genesmurA,murF, andpbp2(2-, 5-, and 6-fold, respectively) in response to SI doses of EGCG were determined by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). EGCG also induced the promoter ofsas016(encoding a cell wall stress protein of unknown function which is not induced invraSRnull mutants) in a concentration-dependent manner, showing kinetics comparable to those of cell-wall-targeting antibiotics. Taken together, our results suggest that the two-component VraSR system is involved in modulating the cell response to SI doses of EGCG.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1810-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Campbell ◽  
Atul K. Singh ◽  
Jonathan G. Swoboda ◽  
Michael S. Gilmore ◽  
Brian J. Wilkinson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWall teichoic acids (WTAs) are phosphate-rich, sugar-based polymers attached to the cell walls of most Gram-positive bacteria. InStaphylococcus aureus, these anionic polymers regulate cell division, protect cells from osmotic stress, mediate host colonization, and mask enzymatically susceptible peptidoglycan bonds. Although WTAs are not required for survivalin vitro, blocking the pathway at a late stage of synthesis is lethal. We recently discovered a novel antibiotic, targocil, that inhibits a late acting step in the WTA pathway. Its target is TarG, the transmembrane component of the ABC transporter (TarGH) that exports WTAs to the cell surface. We examined here the effects of targocil onS. aureususing transmission electron microscopy and gene expression profiling. We report that targocil treatment leads to multicellular clusters containing swollen cells displaying evidence of osmotic stress, strongly induces the cell wall stress stimulon, and reduces the expression of key virulence genes, includingdltABCDand capsule genes. We conclude that WTA inhibitors that act at a late stage of the biosynthetic pathway may be useful as antibiotics, and we present evidence that they could be particularly useful in combination with beta-lactams.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 1447-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessam Abdelhady ◽  
Arnold S. Bayer ◽  
Kati Seidl ◽  
Cynthia C. Nast ◽  
Megan R. Kiedrowski ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureusis the most common cause of endovascular infections, including catheter sepsis and infective endocarditis (IE). Vancomycin (VAN) is the primary choice for treatment of methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA) infections. However, high rates of VAN treatment failure in MRSA infections caused by VAN-susceptible strains have been increasingly reported. Biofilm-associated MRSA infections are especially prone to clinical antibiotic failure. The present studies examined potential relationships between MRSA susceptibility to VAN in biofilmsin vitroand nonsusceptibility to VAN in endovascular infectionin vivo. Using 10 “VAN-susceptible” MRSA bloodstream isolates previously investigated for VAN responsiveness in experimental IE, we studied the mechanism(s) of suchin vivoVAN resistance, including: (i) VAN binding to MRSA organisms; (ii) the impact of VAN on biofilm formation and biofilm composition; (iii) VAN efficacy in anin vitrocatheter-related biofilm model; (iv) effects on cell wall thickness. As a group, the five strains previously categorized as VAN nonresponders (non-Rsp) in the experimental IE model differed from the five responders (Rsp) in terms of lower VAN binding, increased biofilm formation, higher survival in the presence of VAN within biofilms in the presence or absence of catheters, and greater biofilm reduction upon proteinase K treatment. Interestingly, sub-MICs of VAN significantly promoted biofilm formation only in the non-Rsp isolates. Cell wall thickness was similar among all MRSA strains. These results suggest that sublethal VAN levels that induce biofilm formation and reduce efficacy of VAN in thein vitrocatheter-associated biofilms may contribute to suboptimal treatment outcomes for endovascular infections caused by “VAN-susceptible” MRSA strains.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 5688-5694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Meeker ◽  
Karen E. Beenken ◽  
Weston B. Mills ◽  
Allister J. Loughran ◽  
Horace J. Spencer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe usedin vitroandin vivomodels of catheter-associated biofilm formation to compare the relative activity of antibiotics effective against methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) in the specific context of an established biofilm. The results demonstrated that, underin vitroconditions, daptomycin and ceftaroline exhibited comparable activity relative to each other and greater activity than vancomycin, telavancin, oritavancin, dalbavancin, or tigecycline. This was true when assessed using established biofilms formed by the USA300 methicillin-resistant strain LAC and the USA200 methicillin-sensitive strain UAMS-1. Oxacillin exhibited greater activity against UAMS-1 than LAC, as would be expected, since LAC is an MRSA strain. However, the activity of oxacillin was less than that of daptomycin and ceftaroline even against UAMS-1. Among the lipoglycopeptides, telavancin exhibited the greatest overall activity. Specifically, telavancin exhibited greater activity than oritavancin or dalbavancin when tested against biofilms formed by LAC and was the only lipoglycopeptide capable of reducing the number of viable bacteria below the limit of detection. With biofilms formed by UAMS-1, telavancin and dalbavancin exhibited comparable activity relative to each other and greater activity than oritavancin. Importantly, ceftaroline was the only antibiotic that exhibited greater activity than vancomycin when testedin vivoin a murine model of catheter-associated biofilm formation. These results emphasize the need to consider antibiotics other than vancomycin, most notably, ceftaroline, for the treatment of biofilm-associatedS. aureusinfections, including by the matrix-based antibiotic delivery methods often employed for local antibiotic delivery in the treatment of these infections.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 6291-6297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azzam Saleh-Mghir ◽  
Oana Dumitrescu ◽  
Aurélien Dinh ◽  
Yassine Boutrad ◽  
Laurent Massias ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCommunity-associated methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(CA-MRSA) can cause osteomyelitis with severe sepsis and/or local complications in which a Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) role is suspected.In vitrosub-MIC antibiotic effects on growth and PVL production by 11 PVL+MRSA strains, including the major CA-MRSA clones (USA300, including the LAC strain; USA400; and USA1000), and 11 PVL+methicillin-susceptibleS. aureus(MSSA) strains were tested in microplate culture. Time-kill analyses with ceftobiprole at its MIC were also run with LAC. Efficacies of ceftobiprole (40 mg/kg of body weight subcutaneously [s.c.] four times a day [q.i.d.]) or vancomycin (60 mg/kg intramuscularly [i.m.] twice a day [b.i.d.]) alone or combined with rifampin (10 mg/kg b.i.d.) against rabbit CA-MRSA osteomyelitis, induced by tibial injection of 3.4 × 107CFU of LAC, were compared. Treatment, started 14 days postinoculation, lasted 14 days.In vitro, 6/11 strains cultured with sub-MICs of ceftobiprole produced 1.6- to 4.8-fold more PVL than did the controls, with no link to specific clones. Rifampin decreased PVL production by all tested strains. In time-kill analyses at the LAC MIC (0.75 mg/liter), PVL production rose transiently at 6 and 8 h and then declined 2-fold at 16 h, concomitant with a 2-log10-CFU-count decrease.In vivo, the mean log10CFU/g of bone for ceftobiprole (1.44 ± 0.40) was significantly lower than that for vancomycin (2.37 ± 1.22) (P= 0.034), with 7/10 versus 5/11 bones sterilized, respectively. Combination with rifampin enhanced ceftobiprole (1.16 ± 0.04 CFU/g of bone [P= 0.056], 11/11 sterile bones) and vancomycin (1.23 ± 0.06 CFU/g [P= 0.011], 11/11 sterile bones) efficacies. Ceftobiprole bactericidal activity and the rifampin anti-PVL effect could play a role in these findings, which should be of interest for treating CA-MRSA osteomyelitis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danyelle R. Long ◽  
Julia Mead ◽  
Jay M. Hendricks ◽  
Michele E. Hardy ◽  
Jovanka M. Voyich

ABSTRACTMethicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) has become a major source of infection in hospitals and in the community. Increasing antibiotic resistance inS. aureusstrains has created a need for alternative therapies to treat disease. A component of the licorice rootGlycyrrhizaspp., 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GRA), has been shown to have antiviral, antitumor, and antibacterial activity. This investigation explores thein vitroandin vivoeffects of GRA on MRSA pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) type USA300. GRA exhibited bactericidal activity at concentrations exceeding 0.223 μM. Upon exposure ofS. aureusto sublytic concentrations of GRA, we observed a reduction in expression of key virulence genes, includingsaeRandhla. In murine models of skin and soft tissue infection, topical GRA treatment significantly reduced skin lesion size and decreased the expression ofsaeRandhlagenes. Our investigation demonstrates that at high concentrations GRA is bactericidal to MRSA and at sublethal doses it reduces virulence gene expression inS. aureusbothin vitroandin vivo.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 3629-3640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambre Jousselin ◽  
Adriana Renzoni ◽  
Diego O. Andrey ◽  
Antoinette Monod ◽  
Daniel P. Lew ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTUnderstanding in detail the factors which permitStaphylococcus aureusto counteract cell wall-active antibiotics is a prerequisite to elaborating effective strategies to prolong the usefulness of these drugs and define new targets for pharmacological intervention. Methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA) strains are major pathogens of hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections and are most often treated with glycopeptides (vancomycin and teicoplanin) because of their resistance to most penicillins and a limited arsenal of clinically proven alternatives. In this study, we examined PrsA, a lipid-anchored protein of the parvulin PPIase family (peptidyl-prolylcis/transisomerase) found ubiquitously in all Gram-positive species, in which it assists posttranslocational folding at the outer surface of the cytoplasmic membrane. We show by both genetic and biochemical assays thatprsAis directly regulated by the VraRS two-component sentinel system of cell wall stress. Disruption ofprsAis tolerated byS. aureus, and its loss results in no detectable overt macroscopic changes in cell wall architecture or growth rate under nonstressed growth conditions. Disruption ofprsAleads, however, to notable alterations in the sensitivity to glycopeptides and dramatically decreases the resistance of COL (MRSA) to oxacillin. Quantitative transcriptional analysis reveals thatprsAandvraRare coordinately upregulated in a panel of stable laboratory and clinical glycopeptide-intermediateS. aureus(GISA) strains compared to their susceptible parents. Collectively, our results point to a role forprsAas a facultative facilitator of protein secretion or extracellular folding and provide a framework for understanding whyprsAis a key element of the VraRS-mediated cell wall stress response.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1650
Author(s):  
Selvi C. Ersoy ◽  
Blake M. Hanson ◽  
Richard A. Proctor ◽  
Cesar A. Arias ◽  
Truc T. Tran ◽  
...  

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections represent a difficult clinical treatment issue. Recently, a novel phenotype was discovered amongst selected MRSA which exhibited enhanced β-lactam susceptibility in vitro in the presence of NaHCO3 (termed ‘NaHCO3-responsiveness’). This increased β-lactam susceptibility phenotype has been verified in both ex vivo and in vivo models. Mechanistic studies to-date have implicated NaHCO3-mediated repression of genes involved in the production, as well as maturation, of the alternative penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2a, a necessary component of MRSA β-lactam resistance. Herein, we utilized RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to identify genes that were differentially expressed in NaHCO3-responsive (MRSA 11/11) vs. non-responsive (COL) strains, in the presence vs. absence of NaHCO3-β-lactam co-exposures. These investigations revealed that NaHCO3 selectively repressed the expression of a cadre of genes in strain 11/11 known to be a part of the sigB-sarA-agr regulon, as well as a number of genes involved in the anchoring of cell wall proteins in MRSA. Moreover, several genes related to autolysis, cell division, and cell wall biosynthesis/remodeling, were also selectively impacted by NaHCO3-OXA exposure in the NaHCO3-responsive strain MRSA 11/11. These outcomes provide an important framework for further studies to mechanistically verify the functional relevance of these genetic perturbations to the NaHCO3-responsiveness phenotype in MRSA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 3453-3460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Louie ◽  
Weiguo Liu ◽  
Robert Kulawy ◽  
G. L. Drusano

ABSTRACTTorezolid phosphate (TR-701) is the phosphate monoester prodrug of the oxazolidinone TR-700 which demonstrates potentin vitroactivity against Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-susceptibleStaphylococcus aureus(MSSA) and methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA). The pharmacodynamics of TR-701 or TR-700 (TR-701/700) againstS. aureusis incompletely defined. Single-dose pharmacokinetic studies were conducted in mice for TR-701/700. Forty-eight-hour dose range and 24-hour dose fractionation studies were conducted in a neutropenic mouse thigh model ofS. aureusinfection using MRSA ATCC 33591 to identify the dose and schedule of administration of TR-701/700 that was linked with optimized antimicrobial effect. Additional dose range studies compared the efficacies of TR-701/700 and linezolid for one MSSA strain and one community-associated MRSA strain. In dose range studies, TR-701/700 was equally bactericidal against MSSA and MRSA. Mean doses of 37.6 and 66.9 mg/kg of body weight/day of TR-701/700 resulted in stasis and 1 log CFU/g decreases in bacterial densities, respectively, at 24 h, and mean doses of 35.3, 46.6, and 71.1 mg/kg/day resulted in stasis and 1 and 2 log CFU/g reductions, respectively, at 48 h. Linezolid administered at doses as high as 150 mg/kg/day did not achieve stasis at either time point. Dose fractionation studies demonstrated that the area under the concentration-time curve over 24 h in the steady state divided by the MIC (AUC/MIC ratio) was the pharmacodynamic index for TR-701/700 that was linked with efficacy. TR-701/700 was highly active against MSSA and MRSA,in vivo, and was substantially more efficacious than linezolid, although linezolid's top exposure has half the human exposure. Dose fractionation studies showed that AUC/MIC was the pharmacodynamic index linked with efficacy, indicating that once-daily dosing in humans is feasible.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 5046-5053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Berti ◽  
Justine E. Wergin ◽  
Gary G. Girdaukas ◽  
Scott J. Hetzel ◽  
George Sakoulas ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDaptomycin (DAP) is increasingly used as a part of combination therapy, particularly in complex methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) infections. While multiple studies have reported the potential for synergy between DAP and adjunctive anti-infectives, few have examined the influence of adjunctive therapy on the emergence of DAP resistance. This study examined eight adjunctive antimicrobial combinations with DAPin vitroand the emergence of DAP resistance over time (up to 4 weeks) using clinical isolates of DAP-susceptible MRSA (MIC, 0.5 μg/ml) in which DAP resistance subsequently developed during patient therapy (MIC, 3 μg/ml). In addition to DAP susceptibility testing, selected strains were examined for phenotypic changes associated with DAP resistance, including changes to cell wall thickness (CWT) and cell membrane alterations. The addition of either oxacillin or clarithromycin in medium containing DAP significantly inhibited the development of DAP resistance through the entirety of the 4-week exposure (10- to 32-fold MIC reduction from that of DAP alone). Combinations with rifampin or fosfomycin were effective in delaying the emergence of DAP resistance through the end of week one only (week one MIC, 0.5 μg/ml; week four MIC, 24 μg/ml). Cell wall thickening was observed for all antibiotic combinations regardless of their effect on the DAP MIC (14 to 70% increase in CWT), while changes in cell membrane fluidity were variable and treatment dependent. DAP showed reduced activity against strains with DAP MICs of 1 to 12 μg/ml, but cell membrane integrity was still disrupted at concentrations achieved with doses greater than 10 mg/kg of body weight. The emergence of DAP resistance in MRSA is strongly influenced by the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of adjunctive antimicrobials. These data suggest that combining DAP with oxacillin or clarithromycin may delay the development of DAP resistance in cases requiring prolonged antibiotic therapy.


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