Staphylococcus Aureus Research Paper

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic gram-positive cocci bacteria that grows through fermentation and anaerobic respiration. Its growth experiences three stages— a lag phase where infection initiates, an exponential stage S. aureus quickly grows, and a stationary phase where the bacteria alters cellular metabolism for long-term survival. The species is known for its golden-colored colonies, and for its 50 percent (by mass) peptidoglycan cell walls (Gordon and Lowy, 2008). S. aureus is the leading cause of nosocomial infections, such as pneumonia, surgical infections, and bloodstream infections, and also causes many community-acquired infections like skin infections, meningitis, and septic arthritis (Rubin et al., 1999). As a result, S. aureus treatments are necessary to counter these infections.

Isolated in the 1950s from a Stretopmyces orientalist strain found in a Borneo jungle and clinically introduced in 1958, the antibiotic has a spectrum of activity limited to gram-positive organisms: it is too large to cross gram-negative bacterial membranes, and thus has no impact on these organisms. Vancomycin works against gram-positive bacteria by inhibiting peptidoglycan synthesis through multiple methods. It can limit transpeptidation reactions and peptidogylocan polymerase reactions by complexing with D-anayl-D-alanine at the critical peptide precursor unit attachment sites (Wilhelm and Estes, 1999), which structurally weakens the peptidoglycan cell wall and leads to osmotic lysing (Roper et al., 2000). Furthermore, vancomycin can impair RNA synthesis by way of altered cytoplasmic membrane permeability (Wilhelm and Estes,