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  • Transcriptional activity of icaADBC is not correlated to the degree of biofilm formation in clinical ica-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis strains

Biofilms

Table of Contents - 2004 - Volume 1, Issue 02  


Research Articles

Transcriptional activity of icaADBC is not correlated to the degree of biofilm formation in clinical ica-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis strains

S. Dobinsky a1c1, H. Rohde a1, J. K.-M. Knobloch a1, M. A. Horstkotte a1 and D. Mack a1
a1 Institut für Infektionsmedizin, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany

Article author query
dobinsky s   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
rohde h   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
knobloch jk   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
horstkotte ma   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
mack d   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

Biofilm-formation in Staphylococcus epidermidis depends on the expression of the icaADBC operon encoding the enzymes required for the synthesis of polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA). Different S. epidermidis strains vary widely in the degree of PIA and biofilm that they produce. In 11 clinical S. epidermidis strains we analyzed the biofilm-forming capacity in relation to the amount of ica expressed in static biofilm cultures. In mid-exponential growth phase no correlation could be detected between the level of ica transcription and the biofilm-forming phenotype. When the different strains were grown under conditions leading to a biofilm-negative phenotype, ica-expression was highly upregulated. Sequence analysis demonstrated that the observed differences were not due to major mutations in the ica promoter region but apparently to other strain-specific regulators.


Correspondence:
c1 Corresponding author: Dr S. Dobinsky, Institut für Infektionsmedizin, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany T 49 40 42803 3147 F 49 40 42803 4881 E dobinsky@uke.uni-hamburg.de