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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2001, p. 4609-4613, Vol. 183, No. 15
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.15.4609-4613.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Regulation of Staphylococcus aureus Type 5 and Type 8 Capsular Polysaccharides by CO₂

Silvia Herbert,¹ Steven W. Newell,^2, Chia Lee,² Karsten-Peter Wieland,³ Bruno Dassy,⁴ Jean-Michel Fournier,⁴ Christiane Wolz,¹ and Gerd Döring^1,*

Department of General and Environmental Hygiene, Hygiene-Institute,¹ and Institute of Microbial Genetics,³ University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas²; and Unité du Choléra et des Vibrions, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France⁴

Received 12 November 2000/Accepted 18 April 2001

Staphylococcus aureus expression of capsular polysaccharide type 5 (CP5) has been shown to be downregulated by CO₂. Here we show that CO₂ reduces CP5 expression at the transcriptional level and that CO₂ regulates CP8 expression depending on the genetic background of the strains. Growth in the presence of air supplemented with 5% CO₂ caused a significant decrease in CP8 expression in four S. aureus strains, a marginal effect in four strains, and higher CP8 expression in strain Becker. Absolute CP8 expression in the nine S. aureus strains differed largely from strain to strain. Four groups of strains were established due to sequence variations in the promoter region of cap5 and cap8. To test whether these sequence variations are responsible for the different responses to CO₂, promoter regions from selected strains were fused to the reporter gene xylE in pLC4, and the plasmids were electrotransformed into strains Becker and Newman. XylE activity was negatively regulated by CO₂ in all derivatives of strain Newman and was always positively regulated by CO₂ in all derivatives of strain Becker. Differences in promoter sequences did not influence the pattern of CP8 expression. Therefore, the genetic background of the strains rather than differences in the promoter sequence determines the CO₂ response. trans-acting regulatory molecules may be differentially expressed in strain Becker versus strain Newman. The strain dependency of the CP8 expression established in vitro was also seen in lung tissue sections of patients with cystic fibrosis infected with CP8-positive S. aureus strains.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of General and Environmental Hygiene, Hygiene-Institute, University of Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasße 31, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany. Phone: 49-7071-2982069. Fax: 49-7071-2983011. E-mail: gerd.doering{at}uni-tuebingen.de.

Present address: Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA 92134.

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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2001, p. 4609-4613, Vol. 183, No. 15
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.15.4609-4613.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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