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¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
² Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
³ Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego, CA 92123
⁵ VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161

CORRESPONDENCE Victor Nizet: vnizet{at}ucsd.edu

Golden color imparted by carotenoid pigments is the eponymous feature of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Here we demonstrate a role of this hallmark phenotype in virulence. Compared with the wild-type (WT) bacterium, a S. aureus mutant with disrupted carotenoid biosynthesis is more susceptible to oxidant killing, has impaired neutrophil survival, and is less pathogenic in a mouse subcutaneous abscess model. The survival advantage of WT S. aureus over the carotenoid-deficient mutant is lost upon inhibition of neutrophil oxidative burst or in human or murine nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase–deficient hosts. Conversely, heterologous expression of the S. aureus carotenoid in the nonpigmented Streptococcus pyogenes confers enhanced oxidant and neutrophil resistance and increased animal virulence. Blocking S. aureus carotenogenesis increases oxidant sensitivity and decreases whole-blood survival, suggesting a novel target for antibiotic therapy.

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