The adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus to abiotic surfaces is crucial for establishing device related infections. With a high number of single-cell force spectroscopy measurements with geneti cally modified S. aureus cells, this study provides insights into the adhesion process of the pathogen
to abiotic surfaces of different wettability. Our results show that S. aureus utilizes different cell wall
molecules and interaction mechanisms when binding to hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. We
found that covalently bound cell wall proteins strongly interact with hydrophobic substrates, while
their contribution to the overall adhesion force is smaller on hydrophilic substrates. Teichoic acids
promote adhesion to hydrophobic surfaces as well as to hydrophilic surfaces. This, however, is to a
lesser extent. An interplay of electrostatic effects of charges and protein composition on bacterial
surfaces is predominant on hydrophilic surfaces, while it is overshadowed on hydrophobic surfaces
by the influence of the high number of binding proteins. Our results can help to design new models
of bacterial adhesion and may be used to interpret the adhesion of other microorganisms with similar
surface properties