RNA-seq of coding RNA reveals an oxidative stress response induced by the plant-derived naphthoquinone lapachol in Staphylococcus aureus

RNA-seq transcriptomics was performed using RNA of S. aureus COL in triplicate, which was grown in RPMI medium and subjected to 300 µM lapachol for 30 min. Differential gene expression analysis of 3 biological replicates was performed using DESeq2. RNA-seq transcriptome analysis reveals: lapachol causes an oxidative and quinone stress response and protein damage as shown by induction of the PerR, HypR, QsrR, MhqR, CstR and HrcA regulons. Lapachol treatment further resulted in up-regulation of the SigB and GraRS regulons, which is indicative for cell wall and general stress responses.