{
  "abstract": "Adaptation of bacterial pathogens to new hosts often involves the exchange of mobile genetic elements, or generally the highly variable accessory genome. However, adaptation to different niches is often plastic, mediated by conserved pathways in the core genome. The general stress response of most Gram-positive bacteria is a classic case of adaptive plasticity and mediated primarily by the alternative sigma factor B (SigB), a transcriptional regulator. In Staphylococcus aureus, however, sigma factor B appears to have been co-opted to regulate the switch between intracellular and extracellular niches. In the milk-rich extracellular niche of the bovine udder, low sigma factor B activity appears advantageous: during persistent bovine mastitis, narrowly adapted strains entirely deficient in sigma factor B have evolved repeatedly from phenotypically plastic sigma factor B-wild-type strains through various mutations. As we show by transfer of both natural bovine isolates and genetically engineered S. aureus strains from a complex medium to a milk-rich medium, this genetic assimilation is driven by the cost of phenotypic plasticity. Compared with mutated sigma factor B-deficient strains, plastic strains show long time lags in adapting to milk and slower subsequent growth. Overall, we show how a master regulator in the core genome can drive host-specific niche adaptation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Unit of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Centre of Biological Sciences, Department for Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine , 1210 Vienna, Austria.",
    "Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) , 1220 Vienna, Austria.",
    "Unit of Microbiology, Center of Pathobiology, Department for Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine , 1210 Vienna, Austria.",
    "The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology , Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.",
    "Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of South Florida , Tampa, FL 33620-5150, USA.",
    "Center for Antimicrobial Resistance, University of South Florida , Tampa, FL 33620-5150, USA.",
    "Unit of Pathology, Center of Pathobiology, Department for Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine , 1210 Vienna, Austria.",
    "Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Universität Innsbruck , 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.",
    "Faculty of Food Technology, Food Safety and Ecology, University of Donja Gorica , 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro.",
    "Animal & Bioscience Department, Teagasc, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath , C15 PW93, Ireland.",
    "Division of Microbiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80539 Munich, Germany."
  ],
  "article_type": "research support, non u.s. gov't",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 18,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Claus Vogl",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3996-7863"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lynette C Mikula",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0252-4014"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Helene Marbach"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Katharina Mayer-Weihrauch"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Sebastian Herndler"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Leonie Breitschopf",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-5197-6056"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Amy C Pickering",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2154-224X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Mary-Elizabeth Jobson",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-1856-1440"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Adriana Cabal Rosel",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9346-1612"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Nora Dinhopl",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0736-0549"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Igor Loncaric",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1401-2961"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Werner Ruppitsch",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9940-3333"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Lindsey N Shaw",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0629-8990"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Orla M Keane",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9507-2191"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "J Ross Fitzgerald",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9233-8468"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Monika Ehling-Schulz",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7384-0594"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Simon Heilbronner",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6774-2311"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Tom Grunert",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5722-6631"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2r2rny6gsb2bn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1098/rspb.2026.1930",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13678726",
  "id": "2r2rny6gsb2bn",
  "issns": [
    "0962-8452",
    "1471-2954"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42869475",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2725|Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221710133",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13678726?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13678726",
  "pmid": "42869475",
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2r2rny6gsb2bn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:00Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42869475",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42869475"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2725|Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus",
      "subfield": "infectious-disease"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A single transcriptional regulator is crucial for the adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to diverse niches.",
  "title_text": "A single transcriptional regulator is crucial for the adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to diverse niches.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:00Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2r2rny6gsb2bn",
  "venue": "Proceedings. Biological sciences",
  "versions": []
}