ArticlePLoS pathogens2012
Expression of a cryptic secondary sigma factor gene unveils natural competence for DNA transformation in Staphylococcus aureus.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
- A ComX-based strategy for artificially inducing competence in naturally non-transformableApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Distribution and characteristics of methicillin-resistant staphylococci from non-clinical environments in southern Vietnam.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Mammaliicoccus sciuri as a sentinel for antimicrobial resistance and virulence: genomic epidemiology, transmission dynamics, and control in the one health era.Veterinary research communications · 2026Review
- Cell density and single-cell heterogeneity reveal distinct competence induction dynamics in the high-GC Gram-positive Micrococcus luteus.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Mixed-biofilm natural transformation assay reveals the presence of staphylococci in human environments that can transfer SCCmSphere · 2025Article
- Comprehensive genomic analysis of antibiotic resistance plasmids in animal-associatedMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- ComK2 represses competence development for natural transformation in Staphylococcus aureus grown under strong oxygen limitation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Tandem mobilization of anti-phage defenses alongside SCCmec elements in staphylococci.Nature communications · 2024Article
- ComI inhibits transformation inJournal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- SCCBiofilm · 2024Article
- Novel multidrug-resistant sublineages ofmSphere · 2023Article
- Staphylococcus aureus SigS Induces Expression of a Regulatory Protein Pair That Modulates Its mRNA Stability.Journal of bacteriology · 2023Article
- The complex regulation of competence in Staphylococcus aureus under microaerobic conditions.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Horizontal Gene Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Biofilms.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Adaptive laboratory evolution of a thermophile toward a reduced growth temperature optimum.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Pre-epidemic evolution of the MRSA USA300 clade and a molecular key for classification.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Natural transformation allows transfer of SCCmec-mediated methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus biofilms.Nature communications · 2022Article
- The induction of natural competence adapts staphylococcal metabolism to infection.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Cross-Genus "Boot-Up" of Synthetic Bacteriophage in Staphylococcus aureus by Using a New and Efficient DNA Transformation Method.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It has long been a question whether Staphylococcus aureus, a major human pathogen, is able to develop natural competence for transformation by DNA. We previously showed that a novel staphylococcal secondary sigma factor, SigH, was a likely key component for competence development, but the corresponding gene appeared to be cryptic as its expression could not be detected during growth under standard laboratory conditions. Here, we have uncovered two distinct mechanisms allowing activation of SigH production in a minor fraction of the bacterial cell population. The first is a chromosomal gene duplication rearrangement occurring spontaneously at a low frequency [≤10(-5)], generating expression of a new chimeric sigH gene. The second involves post-transcriptional regulation through an upstream inverted repeat sequence, effectively suppressing expression of the sigH gene. Importantly, we have demonstrated for the first time that S. aureus cells producing active SigH become competent for transformation by plasmid or chromosomal DNA, which requires the expression of SigH-controlled competence genes. Additionally, using DNA from the N315 MRSA strain, we successfully transferred the full length SCCmecII element through natural transformation to a methicillin-sensitive strain, conferring methicillin resistance to the resulting S. aureus transformants. Taken together, we propose a unique model for staphylococcal competence regulation by SigH that could help explain the acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer in this important pathogen.
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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.