Characterization of the methylome reveals a new variant of type I restriction modification system in staphylococci.

Restriction modification (RM) systems are known to provide a strong barrier to the exchange of DNA between and within bacterial species. Likewise, DNA methylation is known to have an important function in bacterial epigenetics regulating essential pathways such as DNA replication and the phase variable expression of prokaryotic phenotypes. To date, research on staphylococcal DNA methylation focused mainly on the two species and .

SxsA, a novel surface protein mediating cell aggregation and adhesive biofilm formation of Staphylococcus xylosus.

Biofilm formation of staphylococci has been an emerging field of research for many years. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood and vary widely between species and strains. The aim of this study was to identify new effectors impacting biofilm formation of two Staphylococcus xylosus strains.

Bap-Independent Biofilm Formation in .

The biofilm associated protein (Bap) is recognised as the essential component for biofilm formation in V329 and has been predicted as important for other species as well. Although Bap orthologs are also present in most strains, their contribution to biofilm formation has not yet been demonstrated. In this study, different experimental approaches were used to elucidate the effect of Bap on biofilm formation in and the motif structure of two biofilm-forming strains TMW 2.