SummaryBacteriophages serve as a driving force in microbial evolution, adaptation to new environments and the pathogenesis of human bacterial infections. In Staphylococcus aureus phages encoding immune evasion molecules (SAK, SCIN, CHIPS), which integrate specifically into the b-haemolysin (Hlb) gene, are widely distributed. When comparing S. aureus strain collections from infectious and colonizing situations we could detect a translocation of sak-encoding phages to atypical genomic integration sites in the bacterium only in the disease-related isolates. Additionally, significantly more Hlb producing strains were detected in the infectious strain collection. Extensive phage dynamics (intragenomic translocation, duplication, transfer between hosts, recombination events) during infection was shown by analysing cocolonizing and consecutive isolates of patients. This activity leads to the splitting of the strain population into various subfractions exhibiting different virulence potentials (Hlb-production and/or production of immune evasion molecules). Thus, phage-inducing conditions and strong selection for survival of the bacterial host after phage movement are typical for the infectious situation. Further in vitro characterization of phages revealed that: (i) SAK is encoded not only on serogroup F phages showing a conserved tropism for hlb but also on serogroup B phages which always integrate in a distinct intergenic region, (ii) the level of sak transcription correlates to phage inducibility but is independent of the phage localization in the chromosome, and (iii) phages can be stabilized extra-chromosomally during their life cycle.

Human strains of Staphylococcus aureus commonly carry the bacteriophage ΦSa3 that encodes immune evasion factors. Recently, this prophage has been found in livestock-associated, methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) CC398 strains where it may promote human colonization. Here, we have addressed if exposure to biocidal products induces phage transfer, and find that during co-culture, Φ13 from strain 8325, belonging to ΦSa3 group, is induced and transferred from a human strain to LA-MRSA CC398 when exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of commercial biocides containing hydrogen peroxide. Integration of ΦSa3 in LA-MRSA CC398 occurs at multiple positions and the integration site influences the stability of the prophage. We did not observe integration in hlb encoding β-hemolysin that contains the preferred ΦSa3 attachment site in human strains, and we demonstrate that this is due to allelic variation in CC398 strains that disrupts the phage attachment site, but not the expression of β-hemolysin. Our results show that hydrogen peroxide present in biocidal products stimulate transfer of ΦSa3 from human to LA-MRSA CC398 strains and that in these strains prophage stability depends on the integration site. Knowledge of ΦSa3 transfer and stability between human and livestock strains may lead to new intervention measures directed at reducing human infection by LA-MRSA strains.

Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a pore-forming, bi-component toxin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus strains epidemiologically associated with diseases such as necrotizing pneumonia and skin and soft-tissue infections. Here we demonstrate that transcription of the phage-encoded PVL (encoded in the luk-PV operon) is dependent on two major determinants: the phage life-cycle and the host chromosomal background. Mitomycin C induction of PVLencoding prophages from different community-acquired MRSA strains led to an increase in the amount of luk-PV mRNA as a result of read-through transcription from latent phage promoters and an increase in phage copy numbers. Failing prophage excision was reflected in a constant expression of luk-PV as in the case of strain USA300, suggesting that wSa2USA300 is a replication-defective prophage. Additionally, we could show that luk-PV transcription is influenced by the S. aureus global virulence regulators agr and sae. We found a strong impact of the host background on prophage induction and replication when analysing PVL phages in different S. aureus strains. For example phage wSa2mw was greatly induced by mitomycin C in its native host MW2 and in strain Newman but to a considerably lesser extent in strains 8325-4, RN6390 and ISP479c. This discrepancy was not linked to the SOS response of the bacteria since recA transcription did not vary between the strains. These results suggest a fine tuning between certain phages and their host, with major impact on the expression of phage-encoded virulence genes. INTRODUCTIONStaphylococcus aureus causes a variety of local and systemic infections in humans and is one of the most important community-acquired and nosocomial pathogens. The versatility of this bacterium is due to its ability to produce a wide range of surface-exposed molecules which mediate interaction with the host cell, as well as several secreted virulence factors. S. aureus necrotizing pneumonia and skin and soft-tissue infections, which can also affect young, immunocompetent persons, is described as a threat associated with community-acquired (ca)MRSA and MSSA strains bearing the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes (Diederen & Kluytmans, 2006;Gillet et al., 2002;Vandenesch et al., 2003). The possible contribution of PVL to the virulence of S. aureus has been argued in studies using a variety of different animal models (Bubeck Wardenburg et al., 2008;Diep & Otto, 2008; LabandeiraRey et al., 2007;Montgomery et al., 2008;Voyich et al., 2006;Wang et al., 2007). PVL is a bi-component, poreforming cytotoxin that targets host defence cells such as human polymorphonuclear neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages (Genestier et al., 2005;Kaneko & Kamio, 2004;Prevost et al., 1995). The active form of PVL requires the assembly of two polypeptides, LukS-PV and LukF-PV, for which the corresponding genes (lukS-PV, lukF-PV) are carried by a prophage.Although tightly linked to the phage genome and dependent on it for horizontal transfer, most of the phage-encoded virulence factors are i...

Temperate bacteriophages play a critical role in the pathogenicity of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus by mediating positive lysogenic conversion for different virulence factors such as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) or by interrupting chromosomal virulence genes. PVL-encoding phages are integrated in the S. aureus genome within a conserved ORF which is surrounded by a cluster of tandemly repeated genes. Here we demonstrate that in S. aureus clonal complex ST80 strains PVL-phage induction led to the acquisition of host DNA into the phage genome probably due to a homologous recombination event between direct repeats of the two paralogous genes adjacent to the phage integration site. Phage excision was accompanied by an additional chromosomal deletion in this region. This so far unrecognized mechanism of DNA uptake into the phage genome may play an important role in the co-evolution of phages and bacteria.

No abstract

No abstract