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Journal of Bacteriology, February 2002, p. 1180-1186, Vol. 184, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/jb.184.4.1180-1186.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High Genetic Variability of the agr Locus in Staphylococcus Species

Philippe Dufour,1 Sophie Jarraud,1 Francois Vandenesch,1 Timothy Greenland,2 Richard P. Novick,3,4 Michele Bes,1 Jerome Etienne,1 and Gerard Lina1*

Centre Nationale des Toxémies à Staphylococques, EA1655, Faculté de Médecine Laennec, Lyon,1 Laboratoire d'Immunologie et de Biologie Pulmonaire IMR375, Hôpital Louis Pradel, Bron, France,2 Program in Molecular Pathogenesis, Skirball Institute,3 Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 100164

Received 27 July 2001/ Accepted 3 October 2001

The agr quorum-sensing and signal transduction system was initially described in Staphylococcus aureus, where four distinct allelic variants have been sequenced. Western blotting suggests the presence of homologous loci in many other staphylococci, and this has been confirmed for S. epidermidis and S. lugdunensis. In this study we isolated agr-like loci from a range of staphylococci by using PCR amplification from primers common to the six published agr sequences and bracketing the most variable region, associated with quorum-sensing specificity. Positive amplifications were obtained from 14 of 34 staphylococcal species or subspecies tested. Sequences of the amplicons identified 24 distinct variants which exhibited extensive sequence divergence with only 10% of the nucleotides absolutely conserved on multiple alignment. This variability involved all three open reading frames involved in quorum sensing and signal transduction. However, these variants retained several protein signatures, including the conserved cysteine residue of the autoinducing peptide, with the exception of S. intermedius of pigeon origin, which contained a serine in place of cysteine at this position. We discuss hypotheses on the mode of action and the molecular evolution of the agr locus based on comparisons between the newly determined sequences.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centre Nationale des Toxémies à Staphylococques, EA1655, Faculté de Médecine Laennec, Rue G Parradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France. Phone: 33 (0) 478-778-657. Fax: 33 (0) 478-778-658. E-mail: geralina{at}univ-lyon1.fr.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2002, p. 1180-1186, Vol. 184, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/jb.184.4.1180-1186.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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