Exploring the transcriptome of Staphylococcus aureus in its natural niche

Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen and commensal, where the human nose is the predominant reservoir. To better understand its behavior in this environmental niche, RNA was extracted from the anterior nares of three documented S. aureus carriers and the metatranscriptome analyzed by RNAseq. In addition, the in vivo transcriptomes were compared to previously published transcriptomes of two in vitro grown S. aureus strains. None of the in vitro conditions, even growth in medium resembling the anterior nares environment, mimicked in vivo conditions. Survival in the nose was strongly controlled by the limitation of iron and evident by the expression of iron acquisition systems. S. aureus populations in different individuals clearly experience different environmental stresses, which they attempt to overcome by the expression of compatible solute biosynthetic pathways, changes in their cell wall composition and synthesis of general stress proteins. Moreover, the expression of adhesins was also important for colonization of the anterior nares. However, different S. aureus strains also showed different in vivo behavior. The assessment of general in vivo expression patterns and commonalities between different S. aureus strains will in the future result in new knowledge based strategies for controlling colonization.