Phosphate is an essential nutrient that Staphylococcus aureus and other pathogens must acquire from the host during infection. While inorganic monophosphate (P_i) is the preferred source of this nutrient, bacteria can also obtain it from phosphate-containing organic molecules. The P_i-responsive regulator PhoPR is necessary for S. aureus to cause infection, suggesting that P_i is not freely available during infection and that this nutrient must be obtained from other sources. However, the organophosphates from which S. aureus can obtain phosphate are unknown. We evaluated the ability of 58 phosphorus-containing molecules to serve as phosphate sources for S. aureus. Forty-six of these compounds, including phosphorylated amino acids, sugars, and nucleotides, supported growth. Among the organophosphate sources was glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P), which is commonly found in the mammalian host. Differing from the model organism Escherichia coli, S. aureus does not import G3P intact to obtain P_i. Instead, S. aureus relies on the phosphatase PhoB to release P_i from G3P, which is subsequently imported by P_i transporters. To determine if this strategy is used by S. aureus to extract phosphate from other phosphate sources, we assessed the ability of PhoB- and P_i transporter-deficient strains to grow on the same library of phosphorus-containing molecules. Sixty percent of the substrates (28/46) relied on the PhoB/P_i transporter pathway, and an additional 10/46 (22%) were PhoB independent but still required P_i transport through the P_i transporters. Cumulatively, these results suggest that in P_i-limited environments, S. aureus preferentially generates P_i from organophosphates and then relies on P_i transporters to import this nutrient.

中文翻译：

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在营养受限的环境中，金黄色葡萄球菌优先从有机磷酸盐中释放出无机磷酸盐。

磷酸盐是金黄色葡萄球菌和其他病原体在感染过程中必须从宿主体内获取的必需营养素。虽然无机单磷酸盐（P _i）是这种营养的首选来源，但细菌也可以从含磷酸盐的有机分子中获取。P _i响应调节剂PhoPR对于金黄色葡萄球菌引起感染是必需的，这表明P _i在感染过程中不是自由可得的，并且该营养素必须从其他来源获得。但是，尚不知道金黄色葡萄球菌可从中获得磷酸盐的有机磷酸盐。我们评估了58种含磷分子用作金黄色葡萄球菌磷酸盐来源的能力。这些化合物中的46种（包括磷酸化的氨基酸，糖和核苷酸）支持生长。在有机磷酸盐来源中，有3-磷酸甘油（G3P），通常在哺乳动物宿主中发现。与模式生物大肠杆菌不同，金黄色葡萄球菌不会完整导入G3P以获得P _i。相反，金黄色葡萄球菌依靠磷酸酶PhoB从G3P中释放出P _i，随后由P _i转运蛋白导入。为了确定金黄色葡萄球菌是否使用此策略从其他磷酸盐来源中提取磷酸盐，我们评估了PhoB-和P _i的能力。转运蛋白缺陷型菌株可在相同的含磷分子库中生长。基板的百分之六十（46分之28）上PhoB / P依靠_我传送通道，和一个附加的10/46（22％）为PhoB独立的，但仍需要P_我通过P输送_我转运蛋白。累积地，这些结果表明在P _i有限的环境中，金黄色葡萄球菌优先从有机磷酸盐产生P _i，然后依靠P _i转运蛋白来输入该养分。