Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 38556158
Link to DOI – 10.1016/j.micinf.2024.105334
Microbes Infect 2024 Mar; (): 105334
Global burden of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance are major public health issues calling for innovative control measures. Bacterial NAD kinase (NADK) is a crucial enzyme for production of NADP(H) and growth. In Staphylococcus aureus, NADK promotes pathogenesis by supporting production of key virulence determinants. Here, we find that knockdown of NADK by CRISPR interference sensitizes S. aureus to osmotic stress and to stresses induced by antibiotics targeting the envelop as well as replication, transcription and translation. Thus, NADK represents a promising target for the development of inhibitors which could be used in combination with current antibiotics.