ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Antibiofilm Strategies: Advancing the Management of Microbial Biofilm InfectionsView all 8 articles
ClpB affects biofilm formation in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China
- 2Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
- 3The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China
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Introduction: This study aims to explore the effects of the molecular chaperone ClpB on the biofilm formation and pathogenicity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methods: The biological membrane formation was evaluated by constructing a clpB knockout strain (ΔclpB) and a complemented strain (CΔclpB) of USA300 MRSA, followed by crystal violet staining, scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and quantitative analysis of extracellular matrix components. A mouse skin infection model was subsequently employed to assess wound healing, histopathological changes, and the expression levels of inflammatory factors. Results: The results showed that compared with the wild strain (WT), the biomass of ΔclpB biofilm was significantly reduced (p < 0.0001), the structure was damaged and the production of extracellular matrix (eDNA, polysaccharides, proteins) decreased. CΔclpB then returned to the WT level. In the in vivo experiments, the ΔclpB infection group had faster wound healing, reduced tissue damage, and decreased expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 at both protein and mRNA levels. Conclusion: ClpB promotes the formation of MRSA biofilms by regulating extracellular matrix synthesis and host inflammatory responses and is a potential target for anti-biofilm therapy.
Keywords: clpB, MRSA, Biofilm, Skin Infection, Extracellular Matrix
Received: 13 Oct 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Wang, Qu, Yang, Liu, Peng and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wei Peng, 342732230@qq.com
Yonghui Zhou, zyhui@neau.edu.cn
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