Staphyloxanthin: a potential target for antivirulence therapy Lijun Xue1,2, Yang Yizhi Chen,1 Zhiyun Yan,3 Wei Lu,1 Dong Wan,4 Huifeng Zhu11College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Chongqing Chemical Industry Vocational College, Chongqing, 400020, People’s Republic of China; 3Wuhan Wusteel Good Life Service Co. LTD, Wuhan, 430000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of ChinaAbstract: Staphylococcus aureus is an important and common Gram-positive bacteria which causes clinical infections and food-poisoning cases. Therapeutic schedules for treatment of S. aureus infections are facing a challenge because of the emergence of multidrug resistance strains. It is urgent to find new antiinfective drugs to control S. aureus infection. S. aureus strains are capable of producing the golden carotenoid pigment: staphyloxanthin, which acts as an important virulence factor and a potential target for antivirulence drug design. This review is aimed at presenting an updated overview of this golden carotenoid pigment of S. aureus from the biosynthesis of staphyloxanthin, its function, and the genes involved in pigment production to staphyloxanthin: a novel target for antivirulence therapy.Keywords: staphyloxanthin, target, antiinfective drug, antivirulence therapy