Interaction between Staphylococcus aureus and bovine mammary epithelial cells

金黄色葡萄球菌是一种导致人类和动物多种疾病的机会性病原体。在乳制品行业，金黄色葡萄球菌乳腺炎极难控制，通常发展为慢性感染，至少部分原因是细菌侵入上皮细胞，这可能有助于抵抗宿主的防御机制，降低抗生素治疗的效果。这项拟议研究的总体目标是继续我之前的NSERC发现资助，并研究金黄色葡萄球菌表面粘附素附着和侵入牛乳腺上皮细胞的机制，使用Clf-A作为模型系统。金黄色葡萄球菌在原代和培养的乳腺上皮细胞以及小鼠模型系统中入侵牛乳腺上皮细胞已有报道。依从性和随后的侵袭过程是建立慢性金黄色葡萄球菌乳内感染的两个最重要和决定性的先决条件。这两个过程是由一个大的、结构相关的表面表达蛋白家族介导的，包括聚集因子a。本研究将重点关注Clf-A。

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a variety of diseases in humans and animals. In dairy industry, S. aureus mastitis is extremely difficult to control and usually develops into a chronic infection, at least partially due to invasion of bacteria into epithelial cells, which may help resist defense mechanisms of the host and decrease the efficacy of antibiotic treatment. The global objective of this proposed research is to continue my previous NSERC discovery grant and to study the mechanisms by which surface adhesins of S. aureus attach to and invade bovine mammary epithelial cells, using Clf-A as a model system. Invasion of bovine mammary epithelial cells by S. aureus have been reported in primary and cultured mammary epithelial cells and in a mouse model system. Adherence and the subsequent invasion processes are the two most important and decisive prerequisites to the establishment of chronic S. aureus intramammary infections. These two processes are mediated by a large, structurally related, family of surface-expressed proteins including clumping factors A. This proposed research will focus on Clf-A.