New insights in the coordinated amidase and glucosaminidase activity of the major autolysin (Atl) in Staphylococcus aureus.

After bacterial cell division, the daughter cells are still covalently interlinked by the peptidoglycan network which is resolved by specific hydrolases (autolysins) to release the daughter cells. In staphylococci, the major autolysin (Atl) with its two domain enzymes, N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine amidase (AmiA) and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (GlcA), resolves the peptidoglycan to release the daughter cells. Internal deletions in each of the enzyme domains revealed defined morphological alterations such as cell cluster formation in ΔamiA, ΔglcA and Δatl, and asymmetric cell division in the ΔglcA.

Trace amines produced by skin bacteria accelerate wound healing in mice.

Certain skin bacteria are able to convert aromatic amino acids (AAA) into trace amines (TA) that act as neuromodulators. Since the human skin and sweat contain a comparatively high content of AAA one can expect that such bacteria are able to produce TA on our skin. Here we show that TA-producing Staphylococcus epidermidis strains expressing SadA are predominant on human skin and that TA accelerate wound healing.

Inactivation of Causes High Rhodomyrtone Resistance and Increased Pathogenicity in .

Rhodomyrtone (Rom) is an acylphloroglucinol antibiotic originally isolated from leaves of . Rom targets the bacterial membrane and is active against a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria but the exact mode of action remains obscure. Here we isolated and characterized a spontaneous Rom-resistant mutant from the model strain HG001 (Rom) to learn more about the resistance mechanism.