Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Bacteriology, April 2008, p. 2275-2278, Vol. 190, No. 7
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JB.00006-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California 90048,1 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pharmacology & Drug Discovery, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 920932
Received 2 January 2008/ Accepted 15 January 2008
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
A major risk factor for S. aureus infection is antecedent colonization of the nasal mucosa (19). Successful colonization depends not only on the ability of S. aureus to survive host factors (4, 6) but also on coexistence with other bacteria (16, 21).
The latter concept has been underscored by two recent reports that implicate Streptococcus pneumoniae as a primary competitor for niche colonization (3, 15).
Specifically, one surveillance study performed in an area where pneumococcal vaccination was not practiced showed that the S. pneumoniae carriage rate in children was negatively associated with S. aureus nasal carriage (15). The other study showed that children with recurrent otitis media vaccinated with the 7-valent pneumococcal vaccine had an increased incidence of S. aureus-related acute otitis media and S. aureus colonization after vaccination (3), suggesting that there is a natural competition for colonization between S. aureus and S. pneumoniae.
S. pneumoniae produces H2O2 as an antimicrobial factor to reduce competition by other upper respiratory pathogens, such as Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitides, Moraxella catarrhalis, and S. aureus (14, 16). Since S. aureus is a natural colonizer of the human nares, we hypothesized that its success derives in part from a relative resistance to H2O2 killing by other microflora. Here we tested this hypothesis by generating a catalase knockout mutant strain of S. aureus and examining the role of enzymatic H2O2 inactivation in niche competition with S. pneumoniae.
|
|
|---|
Generation of catalase-deficient S. aureus
KatA mutant.
In-frame allelic replacement of the S. aureus katA gene with a spectinomycin adenyltransferase (spec) cassette was performed using PCR-based methods as described previously (11), with minor modifications. Primers were designed based on the previously published S. aureus katA sequence cross-referenced to the genome of S. aureus strain N315 (10). PCR was used to amplify 500 bp upstream of katA with primers katAupF (5'-ATGGTCGACTATGACATCAACACTTGTAAC-3') and katAupR (5'-TCAAATATATCCTCCTCATCCCTCCACAATTTATAATAAT-3') along with 500 bp of sequence immediately downstream of katA with primers katAdownF (5'-AATAACAGATTAAAAAAATTATAAATTTGATATGTAGTTTCTATA-3') and katAdownR (5'-ATCGGATCCTACCCAGAATTACTTCGTACT-3'). The katAupR and katAdownF primers were constructed with 25-bp 5' extensions corresponding to the 5' and 3' ends of the spec gene, respectively. The upstream and downstream PCR products were then combined with a 650-bp amplicon of the complete spec gene for use as templates in a second round of PCR using primers katAupF and katAdownR. The resultant PCR amplicon, containing an in-frame substitution of katA with spec, was subcloned into temperature-sensitive vector pMAD (1) to create the knockout plasmid. This vector was transformed initially into permissive S. aureus strain RN4220 and then into S. aureus strain Newman by electroporation. Transformants were grown at 30°C and shifted to the nonpermissive temperature for plasmid replication (40°C), and differential antibiotic selection and blue-white color selection with 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal) were used to identify candidate mutants. Allelic replacement of the katA allele was confirmed unambiguously by PCRs that documented targeted insertion of spec and the absence of katA in chromosomal DNA isolated from the final mutant, which was designated the
KatA mutant.
Complementation studies.
Primers katAF_KpnI (5'-ATAGGTACCTCCCATGGTAAAGCCAAGAG-3') and katAR_BamHI (5'-ATAGGATCCTTTACGCGCACGTTAAACAC-3') were used to amplify the katA gene from the chromosome of wild-type (WT) S. aureus strain Newman. The fragment was directionally cloned into the shuttle expression vector pDCerm (8), and the recombinant plasmid (pKatA) was used to transform the S. aureus
KatA mutant by electroporation. For the complementation studies, the isogenic WT and
KatA S. aureus strains were transformed with the control pDCerm plasmid. Strains containing the pDCerm or pKatA plasmid were maintained in THB or on THA containing erythromycin.
H2O2 susceptibility assay. H2O2 susceptibility assays were performed using overnight S. aureus cultures grown at 37°C with shaking. Bacteria were harvested by centrifugation, suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at a concentration of 5 x 107 CFU/ml, and mixed with various concentrations of H2O2. The killing assay was terminated after 2 h of incubation at 37°C by addition of 5,000 U/ml of catalase (Sigma), which was followed by enumeration of surviving bacterial CFU on THA.
Susceptibility of S. aureus to S. pneumoniae killing in vitro. (i) Plate assay. Overnight S. aureus cultures were centrifuged, washed, and suspended in PBS at a concentration of 5 x 108 CFU/ml. Two hundred microliters was plated on THY plates, and a paper disk impregnated with 1.5 x 109 log-phase S. pneumoniae cells was placed in the center of each plate. The zone of S. aureus growth inhibition was measured after 24 h of incubation at 37°C in the presence of 5% CO2.
(ii) Liquid culture-based assay. Overnight S. aureus cultures were centrifuged, washed in PBS, diluted to obtain a concentration of 1 x 109 CFU/ml, and mixed with log-phase S. pneumoniae at a ratio of 1:1, 1:5, or 1:10 in THY. After 4 h of incubation at 37°C in the presence of 5% CO2, the remaining H2O2 was quenched with 50 µl of a 5,000-U/ml exogenous catalase solution, and the surviving S. aureus cells were diluted in PBS and plated on THA plates. As a control, parallel experiments were performed in an identical fashion in the presence of 1,000 U/ml catalase.
Murine nasal cocolonization studies.
Mice were inoculated intranasally with a 10 µl of a mixture containing 108 WT cells and 108 S. aureus
KatA cells. After 30 min, the mice were divided into two groups and given either 10 µl of THY or 3 x 108 early-stationary-phase S. pneumoniae cells in THY. After 3 days, the mice were sacrificed, the nasal tissue was homogenized and vortexed for 5 min in PBS, and the CFU were enumerated on THA with or without spectinomycin after appropriate dilution. Occasional contaminants were excluded during counting of the CFU by the morphology or color of the bacterial colonies. Animal experimentation guidelines were followed in the animal studies.
Statistical analysis. The significance of experimental differences in H2O2 sensitivity and S. pneumoniae killing in vitro was evaluated by using the unpaired Student t test. The results of the mouse in vivo challenge studies were evaluated by using the nonparametric two-tailed Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests.
|
|
|---|
KatA mutant to H2O2 (data not shown).
To assess the effect of katA deletion on S. aureus susceptibility to H2O2, the WT and
KatA strains were exposed to a range of H2O2 concentrations in PBS. In the absence of catalase, S. aureus was highly susceptible to H2O2 killing (Fig. 1A). Complementation with pKatA restored the ability of the
KatA mutant to resist H2O2 killing (Fig. 1B). The pDCerm vector used for complementation was also placed into the
KatA mutant, and it had no impact on H2O2 susceptibility.
![]() View larger version (22K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. S. aureus catalase confers resistance to H2O2 killing. (A) Susceptibility of WT and KatA S. aureus strains to different concentrations of H2O2. (B) Restoration of resistance to H2O2 killing upon complementation of the KatA mutant with pKatA. All experiments were performed at least three times, and similar results were obtained.
|
KatA mutant.
![]() View larger version (43K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. Catalase protects S. aureus against S. pneumoniae killing in vitro. (A) Effect of a disk impregnated with S. pneumoniae on growth of the WT or KatA S. aureus strain. (B) Survival of the WT or KatA S. aureus strain upon coculture with S. pneumoniae at ratios of 1:1, 1:5, and 1:10. (C) Restoration of resistance to S. pneumoniae killing upon complementation of the KatA mutant with pKatA. All experiments were repeated at least three times, and similar results were obtained.
|
KatA mutant in the presence of S. pneumoniae was reduced by as much as 8 logs compared to the survival of the parent strain (Fig. 2B). The differential killing was most likely a result of H2O2 production by S. pneumoniae, since no killing of S. aureus was observed if an exogenous source of catalase was added to the culture at the start of the assay (Fig. 2B). Complementation with pKatA restored the ability of the
KatA mutant to resist S. pneumoniae killing (Fig. 2C).
Next, to extend the biological relevance of these findings, the role of S. aureus catalase was assessed using a murine model of nasal colonization. In this study, mice were inoculated intranasally with equal numbers of WT and
KatA S. aureus cells with or without S. pneumoniae. After 3 days, the surviving WT and
KatA cells were harvested from the noses of the mice. As shown in Fig. 3, the survival of the WT strain and the survival of the
KatA strain in noses of mice did not differ significantly at day 3 when they were inoculated alone, but a notable difference in the levels of survival in favor of WT S. aureus was apparent in mice given S. pneumoniae as a competitor for the same niche.
![]() View larger version (34K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. Catalase protects S. aureus against S. pneumoniae killing in a murine model of nasal colonization. Mice were inoculated intranasally with a 1:1 mixture of the WT and KatA S. aureus strains. After 30 min, the mice were inoculated in the same nostrils with either buffer or S. pneumoniae at a ratio of S. pneumoniae to S. aureus of 3:1. Surviving bacteria from the nostrils were quantitated after 3 days. The graph on the left shows the ratios of the surviving WT S. aureus strain to the surviving the KatA S. aureus mutant for individual mice. The numbers of surviving WT and KatA S. aureus CFU recovered from each mouse are plotted on the right. Mice that were poorly colonized ( 5 WT CFU and 5 KatA CFU as enumerated on THA plates) were excluded from the surviving ratio plot (left) but were included in the survival graphs on the right. The data were compiled from three experiments performed in the same way. The minimum detection level of the assay is 20 CFU. S.p, S. pneumoniae.
|
|
|
|---|
KatA mutant in the cotton rat model of nasal colonization previously reported by Cosgrove and coworkers (5). S. aureus encodes a number antioxidants, including, alkyl hydroperoxide reductase, and staphyloxanthin, which may supplement catalase in defense against H2O2-producing organisms, such as S. pneumoniae.
Although catalase is a factor produced by many bacteria, several studies have failed to establish a function for catalase in systemic virulence (7, 17, 20). Our finding that catalase plays an important role in S. aureus in mucosal niche competition points to an alternative role that catalase could play in the most proximal steps of disease pathogenesis. The S. aureus catalase could thus be a novel pharmacologic target for decolonization strategies, a desirable therapeutic endpoint in many clinical scenarios.
This work was supported by a Burroughs-Wellcome Career Award and by National Institutes of Health grant AI074832 to G. Y. Liu.
Published ahead of print on 25 January 2008. ![]()
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»