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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

A Fluorescence-based Method to Study Bacterial Gene Regulation in Infected Tissues
Published on: February 19, 2019
Specificity grouping of the accessory gene regulator quorum-sensing system of Staphylococcus epidermidis is linked to
1Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, The National Institutes of Health, 903 S. 4th Street, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
Abstract:
Staphylococcus epidermidis represents the most frequent pathogen involved in nosocomial infections and infections of indwelling medical devices. The strain-to-strain variation of the gene encoding the quorum-sensing pheromone of S. epidermidis as well as the correlation between specificity groups and origin from infection were determined. The pro-pheromone gene was highly conserved and showed infrequent, non-synonymous, single-nucleotide polymorphisms that led to conservative amino acid exchanges only. Importantly, one specificity group was significantly more frequent among strains isolated from infection. The finding that quorum-sensing specificity groups are linked to infection demonstrates the relevance of quorum-sensing for virulence in this critical human pathogen and contributes to the scientific basis needed for the development of quorum-sensing-targeting drugs.
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