Unravelling the mechanism of anti-microbial endogenous fatty acids against Staphylococcus – the effect on membrane composition
Duration: minimum 12 weeks
BACKGROUND
Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) is the most representative member of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in human skin, being ubiquitously present on this natural human barrier. Despite the many benefits to the host as a skin commensal, SE has emerged as an opportunistic pathogen, causing infections associated to indwelling medical devices. The SE population structure on the human skin consists of two main clonal lineages, A/C and B. Each lineage presents distinct genetic and phenotypic features associated to commensalism (lineage B) or pathogenicity (lineage A/C). However, there is still a lack of information on how strains from these clusters interact with the human host. In particular, the response of SE to antimicrobial fatty acids (AFAs), key components of skin innate immunity in humans, is poorly explored. Our data, showed that a strain, belonging to the B cluster, had a lower susceptibility to the tested AFAs than a strain from the A/C cluster. However, it is still unknown what is the molecular basis of such a difference.
OBJECTIVES
Compare two S. epidermidis strains, representatives of both lineages, their membrane lipid composition in the absence and presence of AFAs. The obtained results will a) allow to determine membrane structural differences that can be explored for the design of specific anti-microbials against SE pathogenic strains; b) generate new insights on the AFAs anti-microbial mechanism of action.