This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gomes, A. R. Articles by de Lencastre, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gomes, A. R. Articles by de Lencastre, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, January 2005, p. 366-379, Vol. 49, No. 1
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.1.366-379.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Analysis of the Genetic Variability of Virulence-Related Loci in Epidemic Clones of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Laboratory of Molecular Genetics,¹ Biomathematics Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal,² Laboratory of Computational Genomics,³ Laboratory of Microbiology, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York⁴

Received 26 November 2003/ Returned for modification 6 February 2004/ Accepted 11 September 2004

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates have previously been classified into major epidemic clonal types by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in combination with multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing. We aimed to investigate whether genetic variability in potentially polymorphic domains of virulence-related factors could provide another level of differentiation in a diverse collection of epidemic MRSA clones. The target regions of strains representative of epidemic clones and genetically related methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates from the 1960s that were sequenced included the R domains of clfA and clfB; the D, W, and M regions of fnbA and fnbB; and three regions in the agr operon. Sequence variation ranged from very conserved regions, such as those for RNAIII and the agr interpromoter region, to the highly polymorphic R regions of the clf genes. The sequences of the clf R domains could be grouped into six major sequence types on the basis of the sequences in their 3' regions. Six sequence types were also observed for the fnb sequences at the amino acid level. From an evolutionary point of view, it was interesting that a small DNA stretch at the 3' clf R-domain sequence and the fnb sequences agreed with the results of MLST for this set of strains. In particular, clfB R-domain sequences, which had a high discriminatory capacity and with which the types distinguished were congruent with those obtained by other molecular typing methods, have potential for use for the typing of S. aureus. Clone- and strain-specific sequence motifs in the clf and fnb genes may represent useful additions to a typing methodology with a DNA array.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Karauzum, H., Ferry, T., de Bentzmann, S., Lina, G., Bes, M., Vandenesch, F., Schmaler, M., Berger-Bachi, B., Etienne, J., Landmann, R. (2008). Comparison of Adhesion and Virulence of Two Predominant Hospital-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clones and Clonal Methicillin-Susceptible S. aureus Isolates. Infect. Immun. 76: 5133-5138 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cai, Y., Kong, F., Wang, Q., Tong, Z., Sintchenko, V., Zeng, X., Gilbert, G. L. (2007). Comparison of Single- and Multilocus Sequence Typing and Toxin Gene Profiling for Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 3302-3308 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Goff, D. A., Dowzicky, M. J. (2007). Prevalence and regional variation in meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the USA and comparative in vitro activity of tigecycline, a glycylcycline antimicrobial. J Med Microbiol 56: 1189-1193 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Chen, Y., Zhang, W., Knabel, S. J. (2007). Multi-Virulence-Locus Sequence Typing Identifies Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Which Differentiate Epidemic Clones and Outbreak Strains of Listeria monocytogenes. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 835-846 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kuhn, G., Francioli, P., Blanc, D. S. (2007). Double-Locus Sequence Typing Using clfB and spa, a Fast and Simple Method for Epidemiological Typing of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 54-62 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gomes, A. R., Westh, H., de Lencastre, H. (2006). Origins and Evolution of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clonal Lineages.. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50: 3237-3244 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Schaffer, A. C., Solinga, R. M., Cocchiaro, J., Portoles, M., Kiser, K. B., Risley, A., Randall, S. M., Valtulina, V., Speziale, P., Walsh, E., Foster, T., Lee, J. C. (2006). Immunization with Staphylococcus aureus Clumping Factor B, a Major Determinant in Nasal Carriage, Reduces Nasal Colonization in a Murine Model. Infect. Immun. 74: 2145-2153 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kuhn, G., Francioli, P., Blanc, D. S. (2006). Evidence for Clonal Evolution among Highly Polymorphic Genes in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J. Bacteriol. 188: 169-178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• de Sousa, M. A., Conceicao, T., Simas, C., de Lencastre, H. (2005). Comparison of Genetic Backgrounds of Methicillin-Resistant and -Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Portuguese Hospitals and the Community. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 5150-5157 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wright, J. S. III, Traber, K. E., Corrigan, R., Benson, S. A., Musser, J. M., Novick, R. P. (2005). The agr Radiation: an Early Event in the Evolution of Staphylococci. J. Bacteriol. 187: 5585-5594 [Abstract] [Full Text]