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Interference between Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus: In vitro hydrogen peroxide-mediated killing by Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Regev-Yochay G, Trzcinski K, Thompson CM, Malley R, Lipsitch M

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. gregev@hsph.harvard.edu

The bactericidal activity of Streptococcus pneumoniae toward Staphylococcus aureus is mediated by hydrogen peroxide. Catalase eliminated this activity. Pneumococci grown anaerobically or genetically lacking pyruvate oxidase (SpxB) were not bactericidal, nor were nonpneumococcal streptococci. These results provide a possible mechanistic explanation for the interspecies interference observed in epidemiologic studies.

Published 21 June 2006 in J Bacteriol, 188(13): 4996-5001.
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