Pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus and Proteomic Strategies for the Identification of Drug Targets

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading pathogen responsible for mild to severe invasive infections in humans. Especially, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is prevalent in hospital settings and biomaterial-associated infections. In addition, MRSA is listed as high-priority pathogen in WHO priority pathogen list and occupied the serious threat level in CDC’s drug-resistant bacteria report. Persistent S. aureus infections are often associated with biofilm formation and resistant to conventional antimicrobial therapy. Inhibiting the surface adherence and virulence of the bacterium is the current alternative approach without affecting growth to reduce the possibility of resistance development. Though numerous antibiofilm agents have been identified, their mode of action remains unclear. Proteomics is the powerful approach to delineate the drug targets of bioactive molecules. Bottom-up strategy-based comparative proteomics is extensively used in the field of disease diagnosis and therapy. Molecular targets of antibiotics and antibiofilm agents active against S. aureus have been unveiled using various proteomic approaches and lead to development of drug discovery as well.