Proteome database of Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 8325

Abstract

A Gram-positive opportunistic human pathogen of increasing concern, <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> is also a commensal on many parts of the human body. What remain enigmatic are the molecular switches and environmental conditions that drove a commensal into a pathogenic lifestyle. Specifically, activating pathogenesis mechanisms that harms the host may incur a counter-offensive from the body’s immune system. Thus, microorganisms capable of dual commensal and pathogenic lifestyle are of research interests, particularly from the perspective of developing therapeutic strategies that could quickly ameliorate a nascent infection which help reduce morbidity and mortality. In <i>S. aureus</i> case, increasing resistance to a variety of frontline antibiotics makes this bacterium of increasing medical concern, which motivates the search for a variety of biophysical and biochemical approaches for its eradication or keeping it under control. This work sought to provide some fundamental information of <i>S. aureus</i> NCTC 8325 to help guide experimental strategies seeking to both understand the species pathogenesis mechanisms as well as molecular events that potentiate the switch from commensal to a pathogenic lifestyle. Specifically, the UniProt proteome of <i>S. aureus</i> NCTC 8325 was parsed by an in-house MATLAB software to yield a database comprising protein name, amino acid sequence, number of residues, molecular weight and nucleotide sequence, which could collectively inform the genetic and proteomic repertoire of the organism. Knowledge of the molecular entities available would hopefully help crystallise hypothesis-driven research seeking to unveil the molecular effectors that guide pathogenesis in this otherwise commensal organism. Alternatively, a systems-based approach could also use the proteome complement as guide in designing microarray experiments to unveil differential gene expression of the species in health and disease.<br><br>