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Transposon Disruption of the Complex I NADH Oxidoreductase Gene (snoD) in Staphylococcus aureus Is Associated with Reduced Susceptibility to the Microbicidal Activity of Thrombin-Induced Platelet Microbicidal Protein 1

LA Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA, Torrance, California 90502,¹ The Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024,² Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin 53706,³ Department of Microbiology, Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755,⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany 53105⁵

Received 2 June 2005/ Accepted 2 October 2005

The cationic molecule thrombin-induced platelet microbicidal protein 1 (tPMP-1) exerts potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus. We previously reported that a Tn551 S. aureus transposon mutant, ISP479R, and two bacteriophage back-transductants, TxA and TxB, exhibit reduced in vitro susceptibility to tPMP-1 (tPMP-1^r) compared to the parental strain, ISP479C (V. Dhawan, M. R. Yeaman, A. L. Cheung, E. Kim, P. M. Sullam, and A. S. Bayer, Infect. Immun. 65:3293-3299, 1997). In the current study, the genetic basis for tPMP-1^r in these mutants was identified. GenBank homology searches using sequence corresponding to chromosomal DNA flanking Tn551 mutant strains showed that the fourth gene in the staphylococcal mnh operon (mnhABCDEFG) was insertionally inactivated. This operon was previously reported to encode a Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter involved in pH tolerance and halotolerance. However, the capacity of ISP479R to grow at pH extremes and in high NaCl concentrations (1 to 3 M), coupled with its loss of transmembrane potential () during postexponential growth, suggested that the mnh gene products are not functioning as a secondary (i.e., passive) Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter. Moreover, we identified protein homologies between mnhD and the nuo genes of Escherichia coli that encode components of a complex I NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase. Consistent with these data, exposures of tPMP-1-susceptible (tPMP-1^s) parental strains (both clinical and laboratory derived) with either CCCP (a proton ionophore which collapses the proton motive force) or pieracidin A (a specific complex I enzyme inhibitor) significantly reduced tPMP-induced killing to levels seen in the tPMP-1^r mutants. To reflect the energization of the gene products encoded by the mnh operon, we have renamed the locus sno (S. aureus nuo orthologue). These novel findings indicate that disruption of a complex I enzyme locus can confer reduced in vitro susceptibility to tPMP-1 in S. aureus.

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