Effect of carbon catabolite responsive elements on infectivity of Staphylococcus aureus in a murine model of lung infection

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the leading causes for pulmonary infections. Although a number of regulatory cascades and virulence factors enabling S. aureus to enter the lung and cause pneumonia have been described already, only little is known about the metabolic pathways that are of importance for this pathogen to invade and multiply within the lung. Here, we studied the impacts of two of the carbon catabolite responsive elements of S. aureus, CcpA and CcpE, on infectivity in a murine model of acute lung infection. Methods: C57BL/6N mice were infected intranasally with viable cells (5 × 107) of…