Abstract

Soon after methicillin was introduced into clinical practice in the early 1960s, resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) appeared, bearing a newly acquired resistance gene, mecA , that encodes a penicillin binding protein, PBP2a. MRSA have spread throughout the world, and an investigation of the clonality of 472 isolates by DNA hybridization was performed. All 472 isolates could be divided into six temporally ordered mecA hybridization patterns, and three of these were subdivided by the chromomosomal transposon Tn 554 . Each Tn 554 pattern occurred in association with one and only one mecA pattern, suggesting that mecA divergence preceded the acquisition of Tn 554 in all cases and therefore that mecA may have been acquired just once by S. aureus .

Keywords

SCCmecStaphylococcus aureusTransposable elementMicrobiologyPenicillin binding proteinsBiologyPenicillinGeneMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusVirologyGeneticsGenomeAntibioticsBacteria

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Publication Info

Year
1993
Type
article
Volume
259
Issue
5092
Pages
227-230
Citations
411
Access
Closed

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Barry N. Kreiswirth, John Kornblum, Robert D. Arbeit et al. (1993). Evidence for a Clonal Origin of Methicillin Resistance in <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. Science , 259 (5092) , 227-230. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.8093647

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DOI
10.1126/science.8093647