Investigating Pathogenicity and Virulence of Staphylococcus pettenkoferi: An Emerging Pathogen

Staphylococcus pettenkoferi is a coagulase-negative Staphylococcus identified in 2002 that has been implicated in human diseases as an opportunistic pathogenic bacterium. Its multiresistant character is becoming a major health problem, yet the pathogenicity of S. pettenkoferi is poorly characterized. In this study, the pathogenicity of a S. pettenkoferi clinical isolate from diabetic foot osteomyelitis was compared with a Staphylococcus aureus strain in various in vitro and in vivo experiments. Growth kinetics were compared against S. aureus, and bacteria survival was assessed in the RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line, the THP-1 human leukemia monocytic cell line, and the HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line. Ex vivo analysis was performed in whole blood survival assays and in vivo assays via the infection model of zebrafish embryos. Moreover, whole-genome analysis was performed. Our results show that S. pettenkoferi was able to survive in human blood, human keratinocytes, murine macrophages, and human macrophages. S. pettenkoferi demonstrated its virulence by causing substantial embryo mortality in the zebrafish model. Genomic analysis revealed virulence factors such as biofilm-encoding genes (e.g., icaABCD; rsbUVW) and regulator-encoding genes (e.g., agr, mgrA, sarA, saeS) well characterized in S. aureus. This study thus advances the knowledge of this under-investigated pathogen and validates the zebrafish infection model for this bacterium.