Population Analysis of Staphylococcus aureus Reveals a Cryptic, Highly Prevalent Superantigen SElW That Contributes to the Pathogenesis of Bacteremia.

Staphylococcal superantigens (SAgs) are a family of secreted toxins that stimulate T cell activation and are associated with an array of diseases in humans and livestock. Most SAgs produced by are encoded by mobile genetic elements, such as pathogenicity islands, bacteriophages, and plasmids, in a strain-dependent manner. Here, we carried out a population genomic analysis of >800 staphylococcal isolates representing the breadth of diversity to investigate the distribution of all 26 identified SAg genes. Up to 14 SAg genes were identified per isolate with the most common gene (encoding a putative SAg, SElW) identified in 97% of isolates. Most isolates (62.5%) have a full-length open reading frame of with an alternative TTG start codon that may have precluded functional characterization of SElW to date. Here, we demonstrate that uses the TTG start codon to translate a potent SAg SElW that induces Vβ-specific T cell proliferation, a defining feature of classical SAgs. SElW is the only SAg predicted to be expressed by isolates of the CC398 lineage, an important human and livestock epidemic clone. Deletion of in a representative CC398 clinical isolate, NM001, resulted in complete loss of T cell mitogenicity , and expression of SElW by increased the bacterial load in the liver during bloodstream infection of SAg-sensitive HLA-DR4 transgenic mice. Overall, we report the characterization of a novel, highly prevalent, and potent SAg that contributes to the pathogenesis of infection. is an important human and animal pathogen associated with an array of diseases, including life-threatening necrotizing pneumonia and infective endocarditis. The success of as a pathogen has been linked in part to its ability to manipulate the host immune response through the secretion of toxins and immune evasion molecules. The staphylococcal superantigens (SAgs) have been studied for decades, but their role in pathogenesis is not well understood, and an appreciation for how SAgs manipulate the host immune response to promote infection may be crucial for the development of novel intervention strategies. Here, we characterized a widely prevalent, previously cryptic, staphylococcal SAg, SElW, that contributes to the severity of infections caused by an important epidemic clone of CC398. Our findings add to the understanding of staphylococcal SAg diversity and function and provide new insights into the capacity of to cause disease.