ArticleBMC genomics2007
Living with an imperfect cell wall: compensation of femAB inactivation in Staphylococcus aureus.
Article in BMC genomics, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pan-genome insights into genetic diversity, evolutionary dynamics, and pathogenic traits of Staphylococcus agnetis.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Heterodimerization of staphylococcal phage φ2638A endolysin isoforms and their functional role in bacterial lysis.microLife · 2025Article
- Electrostatic Interaction with the Bacterial Cell Envelope Tunes the Lytic Activity of Two Novel Peptidoglycan Hydrolases.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- β-Lactams against the Fortress of the Gram-PositiveChemical reviews · 2021Review
- Partition of tRNAGly isoacceptors between protein and cell-wall peptidoglycan synthesis in Staphylococcus aureus.Nucleic acids research · 2021Article
- The Staphylococcal Cell Wall.Microbiology spectrum · 2019Review
- The pentaglycine bridges of Staphylococcus aureus peptidoglycan are essential for cell integrity.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Raf-kinase inhibitor GW5074 shows antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and potentiates the activity of gentamicin.Future medicinal chemistry · 2016Article
- A glyS T-box riboswitch with species-specific structural features responding to both proteinogenic and nonproteinogenic tRNAGly isoacceptors.RNA (New York, N.Y.) · 2015Article
- Different walls for rods and balls: the diversity of peptidoglycan.Molecular microbiology · 2014Review
- Uniformity of glycyl bridge lengths in the mature cell walls of fem mutants of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Journal of bacteriology · 2013Article
- The Staphylococcus aureus Membrane Protein SA2056 Interacts with Peptidoglycan Synthesis Enzymes.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2013Article
- RNA-Seq reveals differential gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus with single-nucleotide resolution.PloS one · 2013Article
- Host-guest chemistry of the peptidoglycan.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2010Article
- The bacterial cell envelope.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2010Review
- Effect of a glucose impulse on the CcpA regulon in Staphylococcus aureus.BMC microbiology · 2009Article
- Characterization of peptidoglycan in fem-deletion mutants of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by solid-state NMR.Biochemistry · 2009Article
- In vitro and in vivo evaluations of oxacillin efficiency against mecA-positive oxacillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2008Article
- Osmolyte transport inWorld journal of clinical infectious diseasesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSynthesis of the Staphylococcus aureus peptidoglycan pentaglycine interpeptide bridge is catalyzed by the nonribosomal peptidyl transferases FemX, FemA and FemB. Inactivation of the femAB operon reduces the interpeptide to a monoglycine, leading to a poorly crosslinked peptidoglycan. femAB mutants show a reduced growth rate and are hypersusceptible to virtually all antibiotics, including methicillin, making FemAB a potential target to restore beta-lactam susceptibility in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Cis-complementation with wild type femAB only restores synthesis of the pentaglycine interpeptide and methicillin resistance, but the growth rate remains low. This study characterizes the adaptations that ensured survival of the cells after femAB inactivation.
resultsIn addition to slow growth, the cis-complemented femAB mutant showed temperature sensitivity and a higher methicillin resistance than the wild type. Transcriptional profiling paired with reporter metabolite analysis revealed multiple changes in the global transcriptome. A number of transporters for sugars, glycerol, and glycine betaine, some of which could serve as osmoprotectants, were upregulated. Striking differences were found in the transcription of several genes involved in nitrogen metabolism and the arginine-deiminase pathway, an alternative for ATP production. In addition, microarray data indicated enhanced expression of virulence factors that correlated with premature expression of the global regulators sae, sarA, and agr.
conclusionSurvival under conditions preventing normal cell wall formation triggered complex adaptations that incurred a fitness cost, showing the remarkable flexibility of S. aureus to circumvent cell wall damage. Potential FemAB inhibitors would have to be used in combination with other antibiotics to prevent selection of resistant survivors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.