Aureolysin of Staphylococcus warneri M accelerates its proteolytic cascade, and participates in biofilm formation

The aureolysin (Aur) gene of S. warneri M (aurWM) was cloned and sequenced. Analyses of the aurWM-inactivated mutant (S. warneri Mau) suggested that AurWM was probably associated with efficient processing of the PROM protease (homolog of V8/SspA serine protease), whereas considerable amount of mature-PROC protease (homolog of SspB cysteine protease) accumulated without AurWM. Additionally, AurWM appeared to affect biofilm formation in an uncertain suppressive way.本研究对华纳葡萄球菌M株（S. warneri M）的金黄色葡萄球菌素酶（aureolysin, Aur）编码基因aurWM进行了克隆与测序。通过对aurWM失活突变体S. warneri Mau的分析，结果显示AurWM可能参与PROM蛋白酶（PROM protease）的有效加工，该蛋白酶为V8/SspA丝氨酸蛋白酶（V8/SspA serine protease）的同源物；而在缺失AurWM的情况下，会有大量成熟PROC蛋白酶（PROC protease）积累，该蛋白酶为SspB半胱氨酸蛋白酶（SspB cysteine protease）的同源物。此外，AurWM似乎以一种尚不明确的抑制方式影响生物被膜（biofilm）的形成。