Regulation of Staphylococcal Superantigen-Like Gene, ssl8, Expression in Staphylococcus aureus strain, RN6390

Staphylococcal superantigen-like (SSL) proteins, which are encoded by a cluster of eleven ssl genes, contribute to the Staphylococcus aureus virulence. Recently we reported ssl8 expression profiles in seven clinically important strains-MW2, USA300FPR3757, MSSA476, Newman, RN6390, Mu50, and N315-and showed the differential expression of ssl8 in Newman, RN6390, and USA300FPR3757 strains, despite harboring identical allelic forms of ssl8, suggesting the roles for different regulatory elements for this gene in different S. aureus strains. In this communication, using RN6390, a common laboratory S. aureus strain and its isogenic knockout mutant strains of agr, sae, sarA, sigB, rot, and the agr-/sigB (-) double mutant, we showed that SarA and Rot are inducer and repressor, respectively, for ssl8 expression in RN6390. This is in contrast to the Newman strain, where ssl8 is positively regulated by Sae but negatively by Agr, indicating the variable expression of ssl8 in clinical strains is more likely due to strain-specific regulatory elements.