CTSC and bacterial arthritis: We found that the plasmin-sensitive surface protein Pls previously characterized as a virulence determinant in mouse septic arthritis and associated with the staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC)mec type I [25, 26] is a glycoprotein and identified two open reading frames downstream of the pls structural gene that encode novel Gtfs (termed GtfC/GtfD) involved in Pls glycosylation.