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Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6082-6089, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Staphylococcus aureus Alternative Sigma Factor sigma B Controls the Environmental Stress Response but Not Starvation Survival or Pathogenicity in a Mouse Abscess Model

Pan F. Chan,1 Simon J. Foster,1,* Eileen Ingham,2 and Mark O. Clements1

Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN,1 and Department of Microbiology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT,2 United Kingdom

Received 13 July 1998/Accepted 18 September 1998

The role of sigma B, an alternative sigma factor of Staphylococcus aureus, has been characterized in response to environmental stress, starvation-survival and recovery, and pathogenicity. sigma B was mainly expressed during the stationary phase of growth and was repressed by 1 M sodium chloride. A sigB insertionally inactivated mutant was created. In stress resistance studies, sigma B was shown to be involved in recovery from heat shock at 54°C and in acid and hydrogen peroxide resistance but not in resistance to ethanol or osmotic shock. Interestingly, S. aureus acquired increased acid resistance when preincubated at a sublethal pH 4 prior to exposure to a lethal pH 2. This acid-adaptive response resulting in tolerance was mediated via sigB. However, sigma B was not vital for the starvation-survival or recovery mechanisms. sigma B does not have a major role in the expression of the global regulator of virulence determinant biosynthesis, staphylococcal accessory regulator (sarA), the production of a number of representative virulence factors, and pathogenicity in a mouse subcutaneous abscess model. However, SarA upregulates sigB expression in a growth-phase-dependent manner. Thus, sigma B expression is linked to the processes controlling virulence determinant production. The role of sigma B as a major regulator of the stress response, but not of starvation-survival, is discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Firth Court, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-114-2224411. Fax: 44-114-2728697. E-mail: s.foster{at}sheffield.ac.uk.

Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6082-6089, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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