Enterococcal supernatants induce calcium influx and chemotaxis in human neutrophils.

<p>(A) Culture supernatants of <i>E. faecalis</i> and <i>E. faecium</i>, both vancomycin-resistant and vancomycin-sensitive, activate human leukocytes at different levels. (B) Activation of human leukocytes by <i>E. faecium</i> culture filtrates is stronger inhibited by the FPR2/ALX-specific inhibitor FLIPr than by <i>E. faecalis</i> culture filtrates. (C) Chemotaxis induced by <i>E. faecium</i> culture supernatants is inhibited by the FPR2/ALX-specific inhibitor FLIPr. (D) CD11b upregulation by <i>E. faecium</i> and <i>E. faecium</i> VRE 3% culture filtrates can be inhibited by FLIPr. Data represent means ± SEM of 3 independent experiments with 3 different culture filtrates. P-values were determined by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni's post test. * p<0.05, ** p<0.001, *** p<0.0005, **** p<0.0001; ns, non-significant.</p

Bacterial strains.

a<p>From the strain collection of the diagnostics unit of the Medical Microbiology and Hygiene department, University of Tübingen.</p

Genomic islands in ST72 HL1 compared to USA300 and USA400.

<p>A, vSaα genomic island. B, vSaβ genomic island. C, vSaγ genomic island. Broken lines, missing ORFs; red, virulence determinants; green, type I restriction-modification system specificity subunit; yellow, lipoproteins; blue, bacteriocin-related genes; yellow, determinants; grey= ORF not identical to other strains.</p

Relative production of major PSMs in wild-type, Δ, and Δstrain with AI-2 addition

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "AI-2-dependent gene regulation in "</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/8/4</p><p>BMC Microbiology 2008;8():4-4.</p><p>Published online 8 Jan 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2241598.</p><p></p> **, p < 0.01, ***, p < 0.001. Data are from the integration of extracted ion chromatograms of the two major peptide peaks produced in electrospray mass chromatograms of culture filtrates using HPLC/MS. Comparisons are vs. wild type for Δand vs. Δfor Δ+ AI-2. No statistical analysis could be performed for PSM beta1 as there were no detectable levels of PSM beta1 in the Δstrain

SCC<i>mec</i> IVa of ST72 HL1.

<p>The HL1 SCC<i>mec</i> IVa element and the adjacent unique downstream region are compared to the SCC<i>mec</i> IVa elements of USA300 and USA400. SCC<i>mec</i> regions are shaded in grey boxes. Colored internal boxes in the case of HL1 show differing regions. Regions present in USA300 and USA400, but absent from HL1 are in dark grey, internal boxes. Solid grey bar, class B <i>mec</i> region; dotted grey bar, left extremity (L–C) region. Rep, replication protein; Mob, plasmid mobilization protein; Bleo-Resis, bleomycin resistance protein; Kan Nucl-T, kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase; (R), (R)-specific enoyl-CoA-hydratase; HMGCoA, hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA reductase; ACME, arginine catabolic mobile element (downstream of SCC<i>mec</i> in USA300).</p

ΦSa3 prophage in ST72 HL1 compared to USA300 and USA400.

<p>Broken lines, missing ORFs; red, virulence determinants; blue, phage gene or phage-related gene; grey, ORF not identical to other strains.</p

Plasmids in ST72 HL1.

<p>Plasmids in ST72 HL1.</p

General features of the SCC composite island in <i>Staphylococcus haemolyticus</i> SH32.

<p>(A) Distribution of the best-hit homologs of genes contained in the SH32 SCC composite island in staphylococci. The G+C content of the SCC region (from 70 to 120 kb) was calculated with a window size of 200 bp. 32.8% is the average G+C content of the whole chromosome. (B) Gene structure of the SH32 SCC composite island. Predicted genes in SCC elements are represented by triangles, while their direction indicates the encoding strands. Black triangles denote IS<i>431</i> genes. Abbreviations: DR, direct repeat sequence; IR, inverted repeat sequence.</p

Gene content of the SCC<i>mec</i> element in <i>Staphylococcus haemolyticus</i> SH32.

1<p>gene position in the contig (accession number: KF006347).</p

Comparison of SCC<i>mec</i> elements in three <i>Staphylococcus haemolyticus</i> isolates.

<p>A: WCH1; B: SH32; C: JCSC 1435. <i>mec</i>(C1/C2): class C1/C2 <i>mec</i> complex. Rectangles with the same colors denote homologous regions. Dashed lines indicate their ends. Vertical solid lines indicate the site of integration site sequences. Green triangles denote insertion sequences.</p