Biotope-dependent resistance to reactive oxygen species, antibiotic tolerance, and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus
Abstract
The human and livestock pathogen Staphylococcus aureus poses a major clinical challenge due to antibiotic treatment failure. Its resilience is mainly attributed to antibiotic resistance and tolerance mechanisms related to persistence. Here we investigate how two infection-relevant conditions, milk and serum, shape S. aureus pathogenic properties and capacity to withstand environmental stresses. Milk- versus serum-grown bacteria show gross differences in envelope physical properties, membrane fatty acid composition and rigidity, and pigment production, and display distinct proteomic profiles. Compared to growth in serum, S. aureus grown in milk exhibits extreme resistance to ROS damage, marked antimicrobial tolerance, and accelerated killing in a larval infection model. High level S. aureus pigmentation in whole milk is stimulated by milk lipids, and is responsible for high ROS resistance. The remarkable robustness of S. aureus in a milk biotope may signal the need to adjust antibiotic regimens when treating mastitis infections in humans and livestock.
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BibTeX
@article{leguillier2026biotopedependent,
title = {{Biotope-dependent resistance to reactive oxygen species, antibiotic tolerance, and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus}},
author = {Vincent Léguillier and Karine Gloux and Majd Khalife and Rochelle D’Mello and Zoran Minic and Milica Sentic and Marta Catto and Marisa Manzano and Christine Péchoux and Sandrine Truchet and Philippe Gaudu and Christina Nielsen-Leroux and Brahim Heddi and Alexandra Gruss and Jasmina Vidic},
journal = {Communications Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s42003-026-10771-2},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05778534v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Biotope-dependent resistance to reactive oxygen species, antibiotic tolerance, and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus
AU - Vincent Léguillier
AU - Karine Gloux
AU - Majd Khalife
AU - Rochelle D’Mello
AU - Zoran Minic
AU - Milica Sentic
AU - Marta Catto
AU - Marisa Manzano
AU - Christine Péchoux
AU - Sandrine Truchet
AU - Philippe Gaudu
AU - Christina Nielsen-Leroux
AU - Brahim Heddi
AU - Alexandra Gruss
AU - Jasmina Vidic
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Communications Biology
DO - 10.1038/s42003-026-10771-2
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05778534v1
AB - The human and livestock pathogen Staphylococcus aureus poses a major clinical challenge due to antibiotic treatment failure. Its resilience is mainly attributed to antibiotic resistance and tolerance mechanisms related to persistence. Here we investigate how two infection-relevant conditions, milk and serum, shape S. aureus pathogenic properties and capacity to withstand environmental stresses. Milk- versus serum-grown bacteria show gross differences in envelope physical properties, membrane fatty acid composition and rigidity, and pigment production, and display distinct proteomic profiles. Compared to growth in serum, S. aureus grown in milk exhibits extreme resistance to ROS damage, marked antimicrobial tolerance, and accelerated killing in a larval infection model. High level S. aureus pigmentation in whole milk is stimulated by milk lipids, and is responsible for high ROS resistance. The remarkable robustness of S. aureus in a milk biotope may signal the need to adjust antibiotic regimens when treating mastitis infections in humans and livestock.
SN - 2399-3642
ER -