Table 1 Bacterial strains and plasmids

Escherichia coli

 DH5α

F⁻ Φ80 lacZ ΔM15Δ(lacZA-argF) U169 deoR recA1 endA1 hsdR17 (r⁻ _K m⁻ _K) phoA supE44 λ⁻ thi-1 gyrA96 relA1

Invitrogen™

 BL21(DE3)pLysS

F⁻ ompT hsdS _B (r ⁻_B ,m ⁻_B ) gal dcm (DE3) pLysS (Cam^R)

Invitrogen™

 SKEPrtEx

E. coli BL21(DE3)pLysS with plasmid pSKPrtExA

This study

Staphylococcus aureus

 RN4220

res ⁻ strain

[23]

 SKC31

A Km cassette deletion–insertion of the cspA coding region in S. aureus COL, Tet^R

[10]

 Newman

Clinical isolate, strong positive coagulase

[21]

 SKN23

A Km cassette deletion–insertion of the cspA coding region in S. aureus Newman

This study

Plasmids

 pCR2.1

TA cloning vector

Invitrogen™

 pSKCPriEx

pCR2.1 with 238 bp insert of cspA coding region, promoter + 5′ UTR

This study

 pLL38

E. coli-staphylococcal shuttle vector that contains promoterless xylE as a reporter gene for promoter-gene fusion; gram-positive RBS (GGAGG)

[29]

 pSK51

pLL38 containing a putative sequence of −35 and −10 sites plus P3, −53 bp putative TSP of cspA, ligated to a xylE reporter gene

This study

 pSK88

pLL38 containing a putative sequence of −5 and −10 sites plus P2, −88 bp putative TSP of cspA ligated, to a xylE reporter gene

This study

 pSK96

pLL38 containing a putative 96 bp sequence of the cspA promoter: upstream protein binding sites, −35 and −10 sites ending at P1, −112 bp putative TSP of cspA ligated to a xylE reporter gene

This study

 pSK192

pLL38 containing the sequence of pSK96 + 5′ UTR of cspA

This study

 pSK324

pLL38 containing msaB promoter insert from pMOE 482; 5′ PstI and 3′ EcoRI sites

[20]; This study

 pRHB152

pRHB153 with six His-tag replacement of GST-tag for protein overexpression

[25]

 pSKPrtExpA

pRHB152 with six His-tag 200 bp coding region for CspA overexpression

This study