The iron starvation response of the Staphylococcus aureus hemB small colony variant (SCV)

Respiration deficient S. aureus small colony variants (SCVs) frequently cause persistent infections, which necessitates they acquire iron, yet how SCVs obtain iron remains unknown. To address this, we created a stable hemB mutant in S. aureus USA300 strain LAC. The hemB SCV utilized exogenously supplied heme but was attenuated for growth under conditions of iron starvation. RNA-seq showed that both WT S. aureus and the hemB mutant sense and respond to iron starvation. Overall design: A total of 15 samples were analyzed. Samples were acquired from 2 independent experiments, each consisting of 1-3 biological replicates per strain. All samples were grown in iron restricted medium. 4 samples were WT S. aureus treated with ferric ammonium sulfate, 3 samples were WT S. aureus untreated, 3 samples were hemB S. aureus treated with ferric ammonium sulfate, 5 samples were hemB S. aureus untreated.