Regulatory elements of the Staphylococcus aureus protein A (Spa) promoter.

Staphylococcal protein A (Spa) is an important virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus. Transcription of the spa determinant occurs during the exponential growth phase and is repressed when the cells enter the postexponential growth phase. Regulation of spa expression has been found to be complicated, with regulation involving multiple factors, including Agr, SarA, SarS, SarT, Rot, and MgrA. Our understanding of how these factors work on the spa promoter to regulate spa expression is incomplete. To identify regulatory sites within the spa promoter, analysis of deletion derivatives of the promoter in host strains deficient in one or more of the regulatory factors was undertaken, and several critical features of spa regulation were revealed. The transcriptional start sites of spa were determined by primer extension. The spa promoter sequences were subcloned in front of a promoterless chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene. Various lengths of spa truncations with the same 3' end were constructed, and the resultant plasmids were transduced into strains with different regulatory genetic backgrounds. Our results identified upstream promoter sequences necessary for Agr system regulation of spa expression. The cis elements for SarS activity, an activator of spa expression, and for SarA activity, a repressor of spa expression, were identified. The well-characterized SarA consensus sequence on the spa promoter was found to be insufficient for SarA repression of the spa promoter. Full repression required the presence of a second consensus site adjacent to the SarS binding site. Sequences directly upstream of the core promoter sequence were found to stimulate transcription.