The epidemiological success of Staphylococcus aureus as a versatile pathogen in mammals is largely attributed to its virulence factor repertoire and the sophisticated regulatory network controlling this virulon. Here we demonstrate that the low-molecular-weight protein arginine phosphatase PtpB contributes to this regulatory network by affecting the growth phase-dependent transcription of the virulence factor encoding genes/operons aur, nuc, and psmα, and that of the small regulatory RNA RNAIII. Inactivation of ptpB in S. aureus SA564 also significantly decreased the capacity of the mutant to degrade extracellular DNA, to hydrolyze proteins in the extracellular milieu, and to withstand Triton X-100 induced autolysis. SA564 ΔptpB mutant cells were additionally ingested faster by polymorphonuclear leukocytes in a whole blood phagocytosis assay, suggesting that PtpB contributes by several ways positively to the ability of S. aureus to evade host innate immunity.
Keywords: PtpB; Staphylococcus aureus; Triton X-100 induced autolysis; cell wall integrity; gene transcription; innate immunity; low-molecular-weight protein arginine phosphatase; nuclease; whole blood phagocytosis assay.