Extended Data Fig. 6: Testosterone stimulates the expression of virulence factors across strains of S. aureus and in vivo quorum sensing bioluminescence of female Hsd3b6∆skin compared to controls.
From: Skin androgens regulate Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity via quorum sensing
a,b, qRT-PCR of strains of S. aureus obtained from patients with atopic dermatitis46 and treated with 10 nM of testosterone to the mid-exponential growth (n = 3). Expression of target gene RNAIII (a), and agrA (b), normalized to housekeeping gene gyrA expression. Means ± SEM (error bars) are plotted. **p < 0.001, *p < 0.05; p > 0.05 ns, not significant by two-tailed unpaired t-test. c, qRT-PCR of AD04.E7 treated with 10 nM testosterone or AIP-II (n = 3) till late-exponential growth (OD600 1.0). Expression of target genes, psmα, and agrA normalized to gyrA expression. Means ± SEM (error bars) are plotted. *p < 0.05, p > 0.05 ns, not significant by one-way ANOVA. d-f, qRT-PCR of S. aureus agr Type I strain HG003 treated with 10 nM testosterone or AIP-I (n = 3) till late-exponential growth (OD600 1.0). Expression of target genes, lukS-PV, hld, and hla normalized to gyrA expression. Means ± SEM (error bars) are plotted.*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 by two-tailed unpaired t-test. g, Percentage of bacterially-induced neutrophil killing from S. aureus treated with and without 10 nM testosterone, DHT or AIP-I. n = 4 human donors, 2 male and 2 female. Means ± SEM (error bars) are plotted. **p < 0.01, by one-way ANOVA. h, In vivo analysis of agr-P3 reporter. Female Hsd3b6fl/fl and Hsd3b6∆skin mice were epicutaneously infected with 1×106 CFUs of the CA-MRSA-agr-P3lux and bioluminescence quantified over time in Fig. 2j.
