Staphylococcus aureus polynucleotides and polypeptides

Abstract

The present invention relates to novel genes from S. aureus and the polypeptides they encode. Also provided are vectors, host cells, antibodies and recombinant methods for producing the same. The invention further relates to screening methods for identifying agonists and antagonists of S. aureus polypeptide activity. The invention additionally relates to diagnostic methods for detecting Staphylococcus nucleic acids, polypeptides and antibodies in a biological sample. The present invention further relates to novel vaccines for the prevention or attenuation of infection by Staphylococcus.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 925,637, filed Aug. 10, 2001, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08 / 956,171, filed Oct. 20, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,114, issued Jul. 15, 2003), and U.S. application Ser. No. 08 / 781,986, filed Jan. 3, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,248, issued May 18, 2004), each of which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 009,861, filed Jan. 5, 1996; said U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 925,637 is also a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT / US00 / 23773, filed Aug. 31, 2000, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 151,933, filed Sep. 1, 1999. Each of the above-listed applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to novel Staphylococcus aureus genes (S. aureus) nucleic ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, they generally compromise physical and immune barriers to infection, cause loss of fluid and electrolytes and result in local or general physiological dysfunction.

After cooling, contact with viable bacteria results in mixed colonization at the injury site.

It can destroy granulation tissue and produce severe septicemia.

Cellulitis can lead to systemic infection.

It causes necrosis and treatment is limited to excision of the necrotic tissue.

The condition often is fatal.

Typically such infections are limited to the surface of the eye, and may occasionally penetrate the surface with more severe consequences.

Ingestion of the toxin, in sufficient quantities, typically results in severe vomiting, but not diarrhea.

Such infections often are resolved by normal host response mechanisms, but they also can develop into severe internal infections.

Infection of such wound thus poses a grave risk to the patient.

Invasion of surgical wound can lead to severe S. aureus septicemia.

Shedding of the outer layer of skin generally reveals normal skin below, but fluid lost in the process can produce severe injury in young children if it is not treated properly.

The disease can be caused by S. aureus infection at any site, but it is too often erroneously viewed exclusively as a disease solely of women who use tampons.

The disease involves toxemia and septicemia, and can be fatal.

Prior to the introduction of penicillin the prognosis for patients seriously infected with S. aureus was unfavorable.

Methicillian-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has become one of the most important nosocomial pathogens worldwide and poses serious infection control problems.

Recent reports that transfer of vancomycin resistance genes from enterococci to S. aureus has been observed in the laboratory sustain the fear that MRSA might become resistant against vancomycin, too, a situation generally considered to result in a public health disaster.