↓ Skip to main content

Fatty acid kinase A is an important determinant of biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus USA300

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Genomics, October 2015
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
3 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
28 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
45 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Fatty acid kinase A is an important determinant of biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus USA300
Published in
BMC Genomics, October 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12864-015-1956-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

J. S. Sabirova, J-P Hernalsteens, S. De Backer, B. B. Xavier, P. Moons, A. Turlej-Rogacka, H. De Greve, H. Goossens, S. Malhotra-Kumar

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-USA300 is notorious for its ability to cause community- and healthcare-acquired infections, which are even more difficult to treat when associated with a biofilm phenotype. We aimed to characterize the genetic determinants of biofilm formation in a USA300 skin abscess isolate (UAS391) that formed prolific biofilms. USA300 S. aureus strains, TCH1516 and FPR3757, were found to be closely related based on whole genome mapping (Argus™ Optical Mapping System, Opgen Inc, Gaithersburg, USA) to UAS391 (96.3-99.1 % similarity, P=0.0151), however differed markedly in biofilm formation (P=0.0001) on a dynamic assay (BioFlux 200, Fluxion Biosciences, USA). Comparison of whole genome sequences of these strains identified differences in a total of 18 genes. Corresponding Tn (bursa aurealis-bearing) knockout mutants in these target genes were obtained from a publicly available mutant library of the same clonal lineage (USA300-JE2) and were characterized phenotypically for biofilm formation. Tn mutants showing significant differences in biofilm formation were utilized for transduction into a plasmid-cured erythromycin-sensitive derivative of UAS391 and for complementation experiments. All strains were tested on the dynamic assay, and 17h-biofilms were stained (SYTO9, Life Technologies) and fluorescence intensity quantified by microscopy (Zeiss, ImageJ). Gene expression levels in Tn and transduced mutants were studied by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (StepOnePlusTM, Applied Biosystems®). Comparison of the sequenced genomes of TCH1516, FPR3757 and UAS391 yielded a limited number of variant genes (n=18) that were hypothesized to account for the observed difference in biofilm-forming capacity. Screening of Tn mutants disrupted in these target genes identified one mutant (NE229) bearing a transposon insertion in SAUSA300_1119 (fakA), which exhibited increased biofilm formation similar to UAS391 (P=0.9320). Transduction experiments confirmed that fakA::Tn corresponded to 1.9- to 4.6-fold increase in biofilm formation depending on the USA300 strain background (P≤0.0007), while complementation of the TCH1516 wild-type fakA allele in UAS391 resulted in a 4.3-fold reduction in biofilm formation (P<0.0001). This sequential approach, consisting of strain typing, genome comparison and functional genomics, identified fakA, a recently described fatty acid kinase in S. aureus that is essential for phospholipid synthesis and also impacts the transcription of numerous virulence factors, as a negative regulator of biofilm formation in S. aureus USA300.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 45 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Brazil 1 2%
Unknown 44 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 9 20%
Student > Master 7 16%
Student > Bachelor 6 13%
Researcher 5 11%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 9%
Other 4 9%
Unknown 10 22%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 9 20%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 18%
Immunology and Microbiology 8 18%
Medicine and Dentistry 3 7%
Computer Science 1 2%
Other 3 7%
Unknown 13 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 October 2015.
All research outputs
#17,776,263
of 22,831,537 outputs
Outputs from BMC Genomics
#7,568
of 10,655 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#191,659
of 284,375 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Genomics
#300
of 382 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,831,537 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,655 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.7. This one is in the 23rd percentile – i.e., 23% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 284,375 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 28th percentile – i.e., 28% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 382 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 14th percentile – i.e., 14% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.