Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-29-2021
Abstract
Biofilms are typically studied in bacterial media that allow the study of important properties such as bacterial growth. However, the results obtained in such media cannot take into account the bacterial localization/clustering caused by bacteria–protein interactions in vivo and the accompanying alterations in phenotype, virulence factor production, and ultimately antibiotic tolerance. We and others have reported that methicillin-resistant or methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA or MSSA, respectively) and other pathogens assemble a proteinaceous matrix in synovial fluid. This proteinaceous bacterial aggregate is coated by a polysaccharide matrix as is characteristic of biofilms. In this study, we identify proteins important for this aggregation and determine the concentration ranges of these proteins that can reproduce bacterial aggregation. We then test this protein combination for its ability to cause marked aggregation, antibacterial tolerance, preservation of morphology, and expression of the phenol-soluble modulin (PSM) virulence factors. In the process, we create a viscous fluid that models bacterial behavior in synovial fluid. We suggest that our findings and, by extension, use of this fluid can help to better model bacterial behavior of new antimicrobial therapies, as well as serve as a starting point to study host protein–bacteria interactions characteristic of physiological fluids.
Recommended Citation
Knott, Samantha; Curry, Dylan; Zhao, Neil; Metgud, Pallavi; Dastgheyb, Sana; Purtill, Caroline; Harwood, MD, Marc I.; Chen, Antonia F; Schaer, Thomas P; Otto, Michael; and Hickok, Noreen J., "Staphylococcus aureus Floating Biofilm Formation and Phenotype in Synovial Fluid Depends on Albumin, Fibrinogen, and Hyaluronic Acid" (2021). Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers. Paper 152.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/orthofp/152
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
33995317
Language
English
Comments
This article, first published by Frontiers Media, is the author's final published version in Frontiers in Microbiology, Volume 12, April 2021, Article number 655873.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.655873
Copyright © 2021 Knott, Curry, Zhao, Metgud, Dastgheyb, Purtill, Harwood, Chen, Schaer, Otto and Hickok.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.