Selective Chemical Inhibition of agr Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus Promotes Host Defense with Minimal Impact on Resistance

PLoS Pathogens

Alexander R. Horswill¹  Pamela R. Hall¹  Michael Otto²  Susan M. Alexander²  Brian M. Gray³  Hattie D. Gresham⁴  Larry A. Sklar⁵  Natalia Malachowa⁶  Bruce S. Edwards⁷  Ambrose L. Cheung⁸  Bradley O. Elmore⁸  Frank R. DeLeo⁹  Jon K. Femling⁹  Erin K. Sully⁹ 

[1] Center for Molecular Discovery and Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;Department of Emergency Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;Department of Microbiology, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America;Department of Microbiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America;Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America;Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America;Research Service, New Mexico Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

关键词: Staphylococcus aureus;    Skin infections;    Antibiotic resistance;    Antibiotics;    Staphylococcus epidermidis;    Quorum sensing;    Signal inhibition;    Virulence factors;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1004174

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Bacterial signaling systems are prime drug targets for combating the global health threat of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections including those caused by Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus is the primary cause of acute bacterial skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) and the quorum sensing operon agr is causally associated with these. Whether efficacious chemical inhibitors of agr signaling can be developed that promote host defense against SSTIs while sparing the normal microbiota of the skin is unknown. In a high throughput screen, we identified a small molecule inhibitor (SMI), savirin (S. aureus virulence inhibitor) that disrupted agr-mediated quorum sensing in this pathogen but not in the important skin commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis. Mechanistic studies employing electrophoretic mobility shift assays and a novel AgrA activation reporter strain revealed the transcriptional regulator AgrA as the target of inhibition within the pathogen, preventing virulence gene upregulation. Consistent with its minimal impact on exponential phase growth, including skin microbiota members, savirin did not provoke stress responses or membrane dysfunction induced by conventional antibiotics as determined by transcriptional profiling and membrane potential and integrity studies. Importantly, savirin was efficacious in two murine skin infection models, abating tissue injury and selectively promoting clearance of agr+ but not Δagr bacteria when administered at the time of infection or delayed until maximal abscess development. The mechanism of enhanced host defense involved in part enhanced intracellular killing of agr+ but not Δagr in macrophages and by low pH. Notably, resistance or tolerance to savirin inhibition of agr was not observed after multiple passages either in vivo or in vitro where under the same conditions resistance to growth inhibition was induced after passage with conventional antibiotics. Therefore, chemical inhibitors can selectively target AgrA in S. aureus to promote host defense while sparing agr signaling in S. epidermidis and limiting resistance development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY