Environmental fatty acids enable emergence of infectious Staphylococcus aureus resistant to FASII-targeted antimicrobials

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12944
• Publication Date: 2016-10-05T10:10:15Z
• Authors: Claire Morvan; David Halpern; Gérald Kénanian; Constantin Hays; Jamila Anba-Mondo...; Sophie Brinster; Sean Kennedy; Patrick Trieu-Cuot; Claire Poyart; Gilles Lamberet; Karine Gloux; Alexandra Gruss
• Keywords: 570; Staphylococcus aureus; Science; Molecular Biology/Biochemistry [q-bio.BM]; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; [SDV.BBM.BM] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Molecular biology; Article; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; [SDV.MHEP.MI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Acyl-Carrier Protein S-Malonyltransferase; Fatty Acid Synthase, Type II; Animals; [SDV.BBM.BC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Biochemistry [q-bio.BM]; Cloning, Molecular; [SDV.BBM.BC] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Biochemistry [q-bio.BM]; Alleles; Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Mice, Inbred BALB C; 0303 health sciences; Polymorphism, Genetic; Virulence; Escherichia coli Proteins; Lipogenesis; Q; Fatty Acids; Genetic Complementation Test; [SDV.BBM.BM]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Molecular biology; Sequence Analysis, DNA; [SDV.MP.BAC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology; Triclosan; Molecular Biology/Molecular biology; Anti-Bacterial Agents; 3. Good health; [SDV.BBM.BC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; [SDV.BBM.BM]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; Mutation; [SDV.MHEP.MI] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases; [SDV.BBM.GTP] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Female; [SDV.MP.BAC] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology

AbstractThe bacterial pathway for fatty acid biosynthesis, FASII, is a target for development of new anti-staphylococcal drugs. This strategy is based on previous reports indicating that self-synthesized fatty acids appear to be indispensable for Staphylococcus aureus growth and virulence, although other bacteria can use exogenous fatty acids to compensate FASII inhibition. Here we report that staphylococci can become resistant to the FASII-targeted inhibitor triclosan via high frequency mutations in fabD, one of the FASII genes. The fabD mutants can be conditional for FASII and not require exogenous fatty acids for normal growth, and can use diverse fatty acid combinations (including host fatty acids) when FASII is blocked. These mutants show cross-resistance to inhibitors of other FASII enzymes and are infectious in mice. Clinical isolates bearing fabD polymorphisms also bypass FASII inhibition. We propose that fatty acid-rich environments within the host, in the presence of FASII inhibitors, might favour the emergence of staphylococcal strains displaying resistance to multiple FASII inhibitors.