A CRISPRi-based genetic resource to study essential <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> genes

Abstract

<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> is an important clinical pathogen that causes a high number of antibiotic-resistant infections. The study of <i>S. aureus</i> biology, and particularly of the function of essential proteins, is of particular importance to develop new approaches to combat this pathogen. We have optimized a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat interference (CRISPRi) system that allows efficient targeting of essential <i>S. aureus</i> genes. Furthermore, we have used that system to construct a library comprising 261 strains, which allows the depletion of essential proteins encoded by 200 genes/operons. This library, which we have named Lisbon CRISPRi Mutant Library, should facilitate the study of <i>S. aureus</i> pathogenesis and biology.