Staphyloxanthin is a membrane-bound carotenoid of Staphylococcus aureus. Here we studied the interaction of staphyloxanthin with reactive oxygen substances (ROS) and showed by comparative analysis of the wild type (WT) and an isogenic crtM mutant that the WT is more resistant to hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical, hypochloride, and neutrophil killing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost Staphylococcus aureus strains produce the orange carotenoid staphyloxanthin. The staphyloxanthin biosynthesis genes are organized in an operon, crtOPQMN, with a sigma(B)-dependent promoter upstream of crtO and a termination region downstream of crtN. The functions of the five encoded enzymes were predicted on the basis of their sequence similarity to known enzymes and by product analysis of gene deletion mutants.
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