Anaerobic Microbiota Derived from the Upper Airways Impact Staphylococcus aureus Physiology
Sarah K. Lucas, Alex R. Villarreal, Madison M. Ahmad, Abayo Itabiyi, Erin Feddema, Holly Boyer, Ryan C. Hunter
Abstract
, and Streptococcus comprised a core mucin-degrading community across CRS subjects that generated a nutrient pool that augmented S. aureus growth on mucin as a carbon source. Finally, using transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq), we observed that S. aureus transcription is profoundly altered in the presence of mucin-derived metabolites, though expression of several key metabolism- and virulence-associated pathways varied between CRS-derived bacterial communities. Together, these data support a model in which S. aureus metabolism and virulence in the upper airways are dependent upon the composition of cocolonizing microbiota and the metabolites they exchange.