Contribution of clumping factor B to pathogenesis of experimental endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus Newman with an insertion mutation in clfB, the gene encoding clumping factor B, only marginally decreased infection rate (P > 0.05) in rats with experimental endocarditis. In contrast, clfB complementation on a multicopy plasmid significantly increased infectivity (P < 0.05) over the deleted mutants. Although clfB could affect endovascular infection, its importance in experimental endocarditis was limited.