Journal
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 57, Issue 6, Pages 1545-1556Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04786.x
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Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [IAI46433] Funding Source: Medline
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The ability of Streptococcus pyogenes to form biofilm-like bacterial communities during infection of soft tissue has suggested that the capacity to produce biofilm may be important for pathogenesis. To examine this relationship, a panel of mutants was evaluated for their ability to form biofilm on abiotic surfaces in several assays. Several established virulence factors were crucial for biofilm formation, including the M protein, required for initial cell-surface interactions, and the hyaluronic acid capsule, required for subsequent maturation into a three-dimensional structure. Mutants lacking the transcription regulators Mga and CovR (CsrR) also failed to form biofilm. Comparison of transcriptional profiles revealed differential regulation of approximately 25% of the genome upon adaptation to biofilm. During infection of zebrafish, several virulence factors (notably cysteine protease and streptokinase) were regulated in a biofilm-like manner. However, the overall profile of virulence factor expression indicated that tissue communities have a pattern of gene expression different from biofilm. Taken together, these data show that while biofilm and tissue communities have many characteristics in common, that biofilm reproduces only a subset of the myriad cues used by tissue communities for regulation of virulence.
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