Staphylococci are frequent human commensals and some species can cause disease. Staphylococcus aureus in particular is a dangerous human pathogen. In staphylococci, the ability to sense the bacterial cell density, or quorum, and to respond with genetic adaptations is due to one main system, which is called accessory gene regulator (Agr). The extracellular signal of Agr is a post-translationally...

To the Editor—We read the study by Shopsin et al. [1] with interest. As far as we are aware, this study provides the first accessory gene regulator (agr) functional analysis for isolates of Staphylococcus aureus recovered from colonized individuals. These authors observed that agrdysfunctional isolates colonized 15 (9%) of 160 screened subjects and suggest that agr-dysfunctional strains were fi...

This study investigates the feasibility of developing an Artificial General Recommender (AGR), facilitated by recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs). An AGR comprises both conversationality and universality to engage natural dialogues generate recommendations across various domains. We propose ten fundamental principles that should adhere to, each with its corresponding testing pro...

Mutations in rot restore in vitro toxin production to agr-negative strains of Staphylococcus aureus. We show that a rot mutation returns wild-type virulence to an agr mutant, as measured in experimental endocarditis infections by target organ bacterial counts. Implications of our data are discussed in terms of agr antagonist strategies.

The expression of many virulence determinants in Staphylococcus aureus including alpha-hemolysin-, protein A-, and fibronectin-binding proteins is controlled by global regulatory loci such as sar and agr. In addition to controlling target gene expression via agr (e.g. alpha-hemolysin), the sar locus can also regulate target gene transcription via agr-independent mechanisms. In particular, we ha...

BACKGROUND Chronic inflammation is known to be one of the main steps in carcinogenesis. Identification of those with chronic inflammation may help identify subjects at risk of cancer. Previous studies have reported low albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) to be associated with increased cancer mortality in cancer patients, but there has been no study based on healthy populations. PATIENTS AND METH...

The goal of this work was to determine whether staphylococcal enterotoxin type A gene (sea) expression is regulated by an accessory gene regulator (agr). The Tn551 insertionally inactivated agr allele of Staphylococcus aureus ISP546 was transferred to three Sea+ S. aureus strains. Each of the Agr- strains produced as much staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) as its parent strain. These results su...

OBJECTIVE To determine how symmetric (proportionate; SGR) and asymmetric (disproportionate; AGR) growth restriction influence growth and development in preterms from birth to 4 years. METHODS This community-based cohort study of 810 children comprised 86 SGR, 61 AGR, and 663 non-growth restricted (NGR) preterms, born in 2002 and 2003. Symmetrical growth restriction was defined as a birth weig...

The synthesis of protein A in Staphylococcus aureus is regulated by global regulatory loci such as sar and agr. Phenotypic data indicate that both sar and agr suppress protein A synthesis; like agr, sar also regulates protein A production at the transcriptional level. To determine the genetic requirement of sar in protein A suppression, we transformed shuttle plasmids containing various sar fra...