Staphylococcus aureus nonribosomal peptide secondary metabolites regulate virulence

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen and resistant to numerous clinically used antibiotics. The first antibiotic developed for S. aureus infections was the nonribosomal petide secondary metabolite penicillin. We discovered cryptic nonribosomal peptide secondary metabolites, the aureusimines, made by S. aureus itself that are not antibiotics, but function as small molecule regulators of virulence factor expression. Using established rules and codes for nonribosomal peptide assembly we predicted these nonribosomal peptides, and used these predictions to identify them from S. aureus culture broths. Functional studies using global microarray and mouse bacteremia models established that the aureusimines control virulence factor expression and are necessary for productive infections. This is the first report of the aureusimines and has important implications for the treatment of drug resistant S. aureus. Targeting aureusimine synthesis may provide novel anti-infectives.

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Wyatt MA, Wang W, Roux CM, Beasley FC, Heinrichs DE, Dunman PM, Magarvey NA