The bi-component leukocidins of Staphylococcus aureus are important virulence factors that lyse human phagocytic cells and contribute to immune evasion. The γ-hemolysins (HlgAB and HlgCB) and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL or LukSF) were shown to assemble from soluble subunits into membrane-bound oligomers on the surface of target cells, creating barrel-like pore structures that lead to cell ...

Staphylococcus aureus is a significant human pathogen responsible for a range of diseases including pneumonia, sepsis, skin, and soft tissue infections. An important component of its success as a human pathogen is the production of a large array of virulence factors including several toxins. In this issue of EMBO Reports, Reyes-Robles and colleagues [1] identify a glycine-rich motif shared by b...

We report a de novo -assembled draft genome sequence of the Indian Staphylococcus aureus type 88 (ST88) strain LVP-7, isolated from an ocular infection. The harbors Panton-Valentine leukocidin phage, V staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element, delta-hemolysin-converting Newman phage ΦNM3, and pathogenicity island SaPI3, encoding superantigen enterotoxin B.

In the human lower respiratory tract, influenza A (INFA) can activate an inflammatory response that interferes with the innate immune response to bacterial pathogens, increasing the probability of subsequent infection by opportunistic organisms such as methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).1,2 Some hypervirulent strains of communityacquired and ho...

To characterize the clinical and bacteriologic characteristics of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections, we reviewed 14 cases that were diagnosed in previously healthy patients during an 18-month period in France. Eleven patients had skin or soft-tissue infections. Two patients died of CA-MRSA necrotizing pneumonia. A case of pleurisy occurred in a ...

Panton-Valentine leukocidin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus is known to cause severe skin, soft tissue and lung infections. However, until recently it has not been described as causing life-threatening musculoskeletal infection. We present four patients suffering from osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, widespread intravascular thrombosis and overwhelming sepsis from proven Panton-Valentine leuk...

INTRODUCTION Strains of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-producing Staphylococcus aureus producing a new pattern of disease have emerged worldwide. Infection with these bacteria typically presents as a life-threatening infection of soft tissues and bones, and may cause potentially devastating consequences. CASE PRESENTATION We report a case of osteoarticular infection caused by Panton-Valentine le...

Staphylococcal leukocidin pores are formed by the obligatory interaction of two distinct polypeptides, one of class F and one of class S, making them unique in the family of beta-barrel pore-forming toxins (beta-PFTs). By contrast, other beta-PFTs form homo-oligomeric pores; for example, the staphylococcal alpha-hemolysin (alpha HL) pore is a homoheptamer. Here, we deduce the subunit compositio...