Yarwood Jeremy M, Schlievert Patrick M
Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, 540 Eckstein Medical Research Building, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.
J Clin Invest. 2003 Dec;112(11):1620-5. doi: 10.1172/JCI20442.
Quorum sensing via the accessory gene regulator (agr) system has been assigned a central role in the pathogenesis of staphylococci, particularly Staphylococcus aureus. While the control of virulence gene expression in vitro by agr has been relatively straightforward to describe, regulation of both the quorum response itself and virulence genes in vivo is considerably more complex. The quorum response is highly dependent upon the environment in which the organism is grown and is strongly influenced by additional regulators that respond to signals other than cell density. There is increasing evidence that the agr phenotype may influence the behavior and pathogenesis of biofilm-associated S. aureus and S. epidermidis and may contribute to the chronic nature of some biofilm-associated infections.
通过附属基因调节子(agr)系统进行的群体感应已被认为在葡萄球菌,尤其是金黄色葡萄球菌的发病机制中起核心作用。虽然在体外由agr对毒力基因表达的控制相对容易描述,但在体内群体感应反应本身和毒力基因的调节要复杂得多。群体感应反应高度依赖于细菌生长的环境,并受到除细胞密度之外对其他信号作出反应的额外调节子的强烈影响。越来越多的证据表明,agr表型可能影响与生物膜相关的金黄色葡萄球菌和表皮葡萄球菌的行为及发病机制,并且可能导致一些与生物膜相关感染的慢性化。