Open AccessConditions that induce Staphylococcus aureus heat shock proteins also inhibit autolysis
Author(s) -
Qoronfleh M.Walid,
Gustafson John E.,
Wilkinson Brian J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb13189.x
Subject(s) - autolysis (biology) , staphylococcus aureus , microbiology and biotechnology , heat shock protein , shock (circulatory) , heat shock , chemistry , bacteria , biology , biochemistry , medicine , enzyme , genetics , gene
When Staphylococcus aureus strain 8325 was grown at 30°C and heat shocked at 40°C the rate of cell autolysis in buffer with or without Triton X‐100 was reduced. Treatment of growing cells with other agents (CdCl 2 , ethanol, NaCl) known to induce heat shock proteins also resulted in cells that showed a decreased rate of autolysis. Heat shocked cells showed lower rates of freeze‐thaw autolysin activity on purified cell walls, and isolated crude cell walls from heat shocked cells had lower rates of autolytic activity compared to controls. No differences in the peptidoglycan hydrolase activity profiles of control and heat shocked cells were detected by renaturing sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is proposed that autolysins are damaged by heat shock and their targeting to the cell wall is impaired, possibly by complexing with heat shock proteins, which may also inhibit autolysin activity. Heat shock also inhibited the autolytic activity of methicillin‐resistant and related‐susceptible strains, and the possible relationship of this to the expression of methicillin resistance is discussed.