Staphylococcus epidermidis – the “accidental” pathogen

By M. Otto. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2009

1,777 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Although nosocomial infections by Staphylococcus epidermidis have gained much attention, this skin-colonizing bacterium has apparently evolved not to cause disease, but to maintain the commonly benign relationship with its host. Accordingly, S. epidermidis does not produce aggressive virulence determinants. Rather, factors that normally sustain the commensal lifestyle of S. epidermidis seem to give rise to additional benefits during infection. Furthermore, we are beginning to comprehend the roles of S. epidermidis in balancing the epithelial microflora and serving as a reservoir of resistance genes. In this Review, I discuss the molecular basis of the commensal and infectious lifestyles of S. epidermidis.

Subfields: Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/97ea0891e283c512f51208a022834a2b30229ea5

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Infectious Diseases

1. R. Vasudevan
2. B. Bassler
3. Jing Yan
4. Christopher J Jones
5. D. Wozniak
6. D. Limoli
7. M. Otto

In Molecular Biology

1. R. Vasudevan
2. B. Bassler
3. Jing Yan
4. D. Wozniak
5. Christopher J Jones
6. D. Limoli
7. M. Otto
8. Brian K. Hammer

Citations in the corpus

• Bacterial Extracellular Polysaccharides in Biofilm Formation and Function (2015, background): “In the detachment stage of the bio fi lm lifestyle, matrix components are often degraded; however, staphylococci do not seem to possess PIA hydrolytic enzymes (37).”
• Biofilms: Microbial Cities of Scientific Significance (2014, background): “The influence of teichoic acids on the initial attachment have been confirmed through many demonstrative studies due to their polyanionic property [30].”
• Surviving as a community: antibiotic tolerance and persistence in bacterial biofilms (2019, background): “epidermidis matrix component is called polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA), a positively charged polymer (Otto, 2009).”
• Staphylococcal biofilms (2018, background): “epidermidis, which are ubiquitous skin colonizers in humans (17, 18).”