Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology (한국미생물·생명공학회)
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Comparative Study of the Difference in Behavior of the Accessory Gene Regulator (Agr) in USA300 and USA400 Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA)

  • Lee, Hye Soo (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Song, Hun-Suk (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Lee, Hong-Ju (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Kim, Sang Hyun (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Suh, Min Ju (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Cho, Jang Yeon (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Ham, Sion (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Kim, Yun-Gon (Department of Chemical Engineering, Soongsil University) ;
  • Joo, Hwang-Soo (Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Duksung Women's University) ;
  • Kim, Wooseong (College of Pharmacy and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University) ;
  • Lee, Sang Ho (Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jeju National University) ;
  • Yoo, Dongwon (School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Bhatia, Shashi Kant (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University) ;
  • Yang, Yung-Hun (Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University)
  • Received : 2021.04.23
  • Accepted : 2021.06.09
  • Published : 2021.08.28
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Abstract

Community-associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is notorious as a leading cause of soft tissue infections. Despite several studies on the Agr regulator, the mechanisms of action of Agr on the virulence factors in different strains are still unknown. To reveal the role of Agr in different CA-MRSA, we investigated the LACΔagr mutant and the MW2Δagr mutant by comparing LAC (USA300), MW2 (USA400), and Δagr mutants. The changes of Δagr mutants in sensitivity to oxacillin and several virulence factors such as biofilm formation, pigmentation, motility, and membrane properties were monitored. LACΔagr and MW2Δagr mutants showed different oxacillin sensitivity and biofilm formation compared to the LAC and MW2 strains. Regardless of the strain, the motility was reduced in Δagr mutants. And there was an increase in the long chain fatty acid in phospholipid fatty acid composition of Δagr mutants. Other properties such as biofilm formation, pigmentation, motility, and membrane properties were different in both Δagr mutants. The Agr regulator may have a common role like the control of motility and straindependent roles such as antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, change of membrane, and pigment production. It does not seem easy to control all MRSA by targeting the Agr regulator only as it showed strain-dependent behaviors.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the KU Research Professor Program of Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea. This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (NRF-2019R1F1A1058805, NRF-2019M3E6A1103979, 2021R1C1C2010609), and the Research Program to solve the social issues of the NRF funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2017M3A9E4077234). We thanks to Dr. Michael Otto. at Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Bacteriology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, U.S. National Institutes of Health, kindly giving us Staphylococcus aureus strains for our study.

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