Table 1. Strains and plasmids used in this study.

Strain / plasmid	Description	Source / reference
E. coli
DH5α	host for plasmid construction	NEB
ER2566	overexpression strain	NEB
S. aureus
RN4220	restriction deficient cloning host	[63]
AH1263	USA300 CA-MRSA, ermS (= LAC*)	[64]
AH2146	LAC* φ11::LL29tet (= tetR LAC* variant, used for experiments with tetracycline-inducible expression vectors)	this work
AH3052	LAC* Δspa	[22]
AH3007	LAC* spa::φNΣ	[23]
AH1975	LAC* ΔarlRS	[23]
AH3244	LAC* ΔarlRS φ11::LL29tet arlRS	this work
AH3455	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM	[22]
AH3458	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM Δspa	[22]
AH3488	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM spa::φNΣ	[22]
AH3485	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM φ11::LL29erm mgrA	[22]
AH3490	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM φ11::LL29erm mgrA Δspa	this work
AH3150	LAC* Δebh	[22]
AH3808	LAC* sraP::φNΣ	[22]
AH5137	LAC* Δebh sraP::φNΣ	this work
AH3481	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM Δebh	[22]
AH3811	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM sraP::φNΣ	[22]
AH3798	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM sraP::φNΣ Δebh	[22]
AH3885	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM sraP::φNΣ ebhΔN	this work
AH3886	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM sraP::φNΣ ebhΔ1	this work
AH3887	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM sraP::φNΣ ebhΔ2	this work
AH3487	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM Δebh spa::φNΣ	[22]
AH4341	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM ebhΔN spa::φNΣ	this work
AH4342	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM ebhΔ1 spa::φNΣ	this work
AH4343	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM ebhΔ2 spa::φNΣ	this work
AH4037	LAC* ΔclfA	this work
AH4464	LAC* ΔclfA Δspa::tetM	this work
AH4743	LAC* ΔmgrA::tetM Δebh sraP::φNΣ ΔclfA	this work
MW2	USA400 CA-MRSA	[65]
AH3077	MW2 ΔarlRS::erm	this work
AH4330	MW2 ΔarlRS::erm φ11::LL29tet arlRS	this work
AH3422	MW2 ΔmgrA	[22]
AH3491	MW2 ΔmgrA φ11::LL29erm mgrA	this work
AH3494	MW2 ΔmgrA Δebh::tetL	[22]
AH3945	MW2 ΔmgrA Δebh::tetL ΔsraP	[22]
AH3977	MW2 ΔmgrA Δebh::tetL ΔsraP ΔsasG	[22]
AH4770	MW2 Δcna::tetM	this work
AH4776	MW2 ΔmgrA Δebh::tetL ΔsraP ΔsasG Δcna::tetM	this work
AH4489	USA100 HA-MRSA, isolate #103	this work
AH5159	#103 ΔmgrA::tetM	this work
AH4491	USA100 HA-MRSA, isolate #132	this work
AH5161	#132 ΔmgrA::tetM	this work
MRSA252	USA200 HA-MRSA	[66]
AH3483	MRSA252 ΔmgrA::tetM	[22]
Newman	MSSA	[67]
AH3472	Newman ΔmgrA::tetM	[22]
HG001	MSSA	[68]
AH4546	HG001 ΔmgrA::tetM	this work
502A	MSSA	[69]
AH3625	502A ΔmgrA::tetM	[22]
Plasmids
pJB38	mutation generation vector, CamR	[70]
pCM29	sGFP expression vector, CamR	[71]
pRMC2	tetracycline-inducible expression vector, CamR	[72]
pALC2073	tetracycline-inducible expression vector, CamR	[72]
pJMB202	arlRS deletion vector, CamR	[23]
pTEV5	His6-tagged protein expression vector, AmpR	[73]
pEPSA5	xylose-inducible expression vector, CamR	[74]
pHC03	pJB38 ΔarlRS::ermB	this work
pHC05	pJB38 ebhΔN	this work
pHC24	pLL29 arlRS	this work
pHC30	pHC38 Δebh1	this work
pHC31	pHC38 Δebh2	this work
pHC68	mgrA P2-sGFP fusion, ErmR	[22]
pHC84	pJB38 ΔclfA	this work
pHC87	pRMC2-SasG	this work
pHC88	pRMC2-SasG-His6	this work
pHC89	pALC2073-SasG	this work
pHC90	pALC2073-SasG-His6	this work
pHC187	pEPSA5-mgrA	this work
pJK05	pJB38 Δcna	this work
pJK06	pJB38 Δcna::tetM	this work
pJK11	pTEV5-Cna174-296	this work