نبذة مختصرة : Antibiotics that interfere with DNA replication and cell viability activate the SOS response. In Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotic-induced SOS response promotes replication and high-frequency horizontal transfer of pathogenicity island-encoded virulence factors. Here we report that β-lactams induce a bona fide SOS response in S. aureus, characterized by the activation of the RecA and LexA proteins, the two master regulators of the SOS response. Moreover, we show that β-lactams are capable of triggering staphylococcal prophage induction in S. aureus lysogens. Consequently, and as previously described for SOS induction by commonly used fluoroquinolone antibiotics, β-lactam-mediated phage induction also resulted in replication and high-frequency transfer of the staphylococcal pathogenicity islands, showing that such antibiotics may have the unintended consequence of promoting the spread of bacterial virulence factors. ; This work was supported by grants BIO2002-04542-C02-01 and BIO2005-08399-C02-02 from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (C.I.C.Y.T.), grants from the Cardenal Herrera-CEU University, the Conselleria de Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació (CAPiA), and the Generalitat Valenciana (CTIDIA/2002/62, CTESPP/2003/027, and AE04-8) to J.R.P., and a grant from the MEC (AGL2005-03574/GAN) to J.B. Fellowship support for C.U. from CAPiA and for E.M. from the Cardenal Herrera-CEU University is gratefully acknowledged.
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