TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rohmer, Carina
A1  - Dobritz, Ronja
A1  - Tuncbilek-Dere, Dilek
A1  - Lehmann, Esther
A1  - Gerlach, David
A1  - George, Shilpa Elizabeth
A1  - Bae, Taeok
A1  - Nieselt, Kay
A1  - Wolz, Christiane
T1  - Influence of Staphylococcus aureus strain background on Sa3int phage life cycle switches
JF  - Viruses
N2  - Staphylococcus aureus asymptomatically colonizes the nasal cavity of mammals, but it is also a leading cause of life-threatening infections. Most human nasal isolates carry Sa3 phages, which integrate into the bacterial hlb gene encoding a sphingomyelinase. The virulence factor-encoding genes carried by the Sa3-phages are highly human-specific, and most animal strains are Sa3 negative. Thus, both insertion and excision of the prophage could potentially confer a fitness advantage to S. aureus. Here, we analyzed the phage life cycle of two Sa3 phages, Φ13 and ΦN315, in different phage-cured S. aureus strains. Based on phage transfer experiments, strains could be classified into low (8325-4, SH1000, and USA300c) and high (MW2c and Newman-c) transfer strains. High-transfer strains promoted the replication of phages, whereas phage adsorption, integration, excision, or recA transcription was not significantly different between strains. RNASeq analyses of replication-deficient lysogens revealed no strain-specific differences in the CI/Mor regulatory switch. However, lytic genes were significantly upregulated in the high transfer strain MW2c Φ13 compared to strain 8325-4 Φ13. By transcriptional start site prediction, new promoter regions within the lytic modules were identified, which are likely targeted by specific host factors. Such host-phage interaction probably accounts for the strain-specific differences in phage replication and transfer frequency. Thus, the genetic makeup of the host strains may determine the rate of phage mobilization, a feature that might impact the speed at which certain strains can achieve host adaptation.
KW  - phage
KW  - virulence
KW  - induction
KW  - gene regulation
KW  - Staphylococcus
KW  - hemolysin
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-297209
SN  - 1999-4915
VL  - 14
IS  - 11
ER  -