| Summary: | As a facultative intracellular pathogen, <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> is able to invade and proliferate within many types of mammalian cells. Intracellular bacterial replication relies on host nutrient supplies and, therefore, cell metabolism is closely bound to intracellular infection. Here, we investigated how <i>S. aureus</i> invasion affects the host membrane-bound fatty acids. We quantified the relative levels of fatty acids and their labelling pattern after intracellular infection by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Interestingly, we observed that the levels of three host fatty acids—docosanoic, eicosanoic and palmitic acids—were significantly increased in response to intracellular <i>S. aureus</i> infection. Accordingly, labelling carbon distribution was also affected in infected cells, in comparison to the uninfected control. In addition, treatment of HeLa cells with these three fatty acids showed a cytoprotective role by directly reducing <i>S. aureus</i> growth.
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