TITLE:
The Ciliate Protist Tetrahymena pyriformis as a Cellular Adhesion Model for the Pathogenic Bacterium Staphylococcus aureus
AUTHORS:
Bouchra El Khalfi, Mohammed Benlahfid, Sofia Jarmouni, Nezha Senhaji, Aurelio Serrano Delgado, Abdelaziz Soukri
KEYWORDS:
Staphylococcus aureus, Adhering Genes (can and icaD), Tetrahymena pyriformis, Biofilm Production, Plant Extract, Anti-Adhesion Effect
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.8 No.12,
December
18,
2017
ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus
aureus is one of the main
pathogenic agents responsible for nosocomial and community-acquired bacterial
infections. The pathogenicity of this Gram-positive bacterium is ensured by its
different adhesion factors. Collagen and the extracellular glycoprotein adhesin
are among the Staphylococcus most important virulence factors. It has been shown that most of the S. aureus strains carry the ica operon, responsible for
biofilm production. However, the coexpression of the icaA and the icaD genes is necessary for
complete biofilm synthesis. The aim of our study was to study a collection of
15 clinical strains of S. aureus from different sources for the presence of can and icaD genes coding intercellular adhesion proteins. We also intended to estimate the
strains’ ability to form biofilms by the red Cong method and to test the
adhesion ability of S. aureus to the ciliated protist Tetrahymena
pyriformis, which we used as a novel cellular adhesion model.
Finally, we checked the adhesion’s inhibition capacity of some plants extracts.
The molecular detection of adhesion genes revealed that 80% of strains are cna
positive, and 73% are icaD positive. Qualitative biofilm production of S. aureus revealed that 66.6% of strains were slime producers.
The adhesion test revealed that 20% of strains are strongly adhering to T. pyriformis and that the Clematis cirrhosa extract has
an anti-adhering effect of S.
aureus to the ciliate T. pyriformis.