The Mevalonate Auxotrophic Mutant of Staphylococcus aureus Can Adapt to Mevalonate Depletion

In this study, we attempted to adopt the auxotrophic mevalonate synthase mutant (Delta mvaS mutant) of Staphylococcus aureus to study whether a nongrowing but viable cell population is tolerant to bactericidal antibiotics. The mevalonate-depleted nongrowing Delta mvaS mutant was found tolerant to antibiotics. Surprisingly, after prolonged cultivation, we obtained stable Delta mvaS variants that were able to grow without mevalonate, which suggested unknown mechanisms for compensating undecaprenyl pyrophosphate production without mevalonate in S. aureus.