The N-terminal repeat and the ligand binding domain A of SdrI protein is involved in hydrophobicity of S. saprophyticus

Staphylococcus saprophyticus is an important cause of urinary tract infection, and its cell surface hydrophobicity may contribute to virulence by facilitating adherence of the organism to uroepithelia. S. saprophyticus expresses the surface protein SdrI, a member of the serine-aspartate repeat (SD) protein family, which has multifunctional properties. The SdrI knock out mutant has a reduced hydrophobicity index (HPI) of 25%, and expressed in the non-hydrophobic Staphylococcus carnosus strain TM300 causes hydrophobicity. Using hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC), we confined the hydrophobic site of SdrI to the N-terminal repeat region. S. saprophyticus strains carrying different plasmid constructs lacking either the N-terminal repeats, both B or SD-repeats were less hydrophobic than wild type and fully complemented SdrI mutant (HPI: 51%). The surface hydrophobicity and HPI of both wild type and the complemented strain were also influenced by calcium (Ca2+) and were reduced from 81.3% and 82.4% to 10.9% and 12.3%, respectively. This study confirms that the SdrI protein of S. saprophyticus is a crucial factor for surface hydrophobicity and also gives a first significant functional description of the N-terminal repeats, which in conjunction with the B-repeats form an optimal hydrophobic conformation.