Temporal expression of adhesion factors and activity of global regulators during establishment of Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization

The human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus successfully colonizes its primary reservoir, the nasal cavity, most likely by regulatory adaptation to the nose environment. Cotton rats represent an excellent model for the study of bacterial gene expression in the initial phases of colonization. To gain insight into the expression profile necessary for the establishment of colonization, we performed direct transcript analysis by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction on cotton rat noses removed from euthanized animals on days 1, 4, or 10 after instillation of 2 human S. aureus nose isolates. Global virulence regulators (agr, sae) were not active in this early phase, but the essential 2-component regulatory system WalKR seems to play an important role. Accordingly, an elevated expression of walKR target genes (sak, sceD) could be detected. In agreement with previous studies that demonstrated the essential role played by wall teichoic acid (WTA) polymers in nasal colonization, we detected a strongly increased expression of WTA-biosynthetic genes. The expression profile switched to production of the adhesive proteins ClfB and IsdA at later stages of the colonization process. These data underscore the temporal differences in the roles of WTA and surface proteins in nasal colonization, and they provide the first evidence for a regulation of WTA biosynthesis in vivo.