Genome sequencing to identify tr-SCV causing SNPs. Staphylococcus aureus tr-SCVs

In recent work we identified genes that confer the slow growing and antibiotic resistant Small Colony Variant (SCV) form of Staphylococcus aureus as associated with the amount of capsule the bacteria produce. In this study we isolated a triclosan resistant SCV (tr-SCV) and demonstrate that it produces significantly less capsule, an effect that appears to be mediated at the transcriptional stage. As with other SCVs, we found the tr-SCV produces less toxins, and when compared to both a capsule and an Agr mutant we found the tr-SCV to be significantly attenuated in an insect model of infection.