The distribution of plasmids that carry virulence and resistance genes in Staphylococcus aureus is lineage associated

BMC Microbiology

Research Article

Alex J McCarthy¹  Jodi A Lindsay¹ 

[1] Centre for Infection, Division of Clinical Sciences, St George’s, University of London, London, UK;

关键词: Resistance Gene;    Virulence Gene;    Horizontal Gene Transfer;    Small Plasmid;    Plasmid Group;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2180-12-104

 received in 2011-10-11, accepted in 2012-06-12,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStaphylococcus aureus is major human and animal pathogen. Plasmids often carry resistance genes and virulence genes that can disseminate through S. aureus populations by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) mechanisms. Sequences of S. aureus plasmids in the public domain and data from multi-strain microarrays were analysed to investigate (i) the distribution of resistance genes and virulence genes on S. aureus plasmids, and (ii) the distribution of plasmids between S. aureus lineages.ResultsA total of 21 plasmid rep gene families, of which 13 were novel to this study, were characterised using a previously proposed classification system. 243 sequenced plasmids were assigned to 39 plasmid groups that each possessed a unique combination of rep genes. We show some resistance genes (including ermC and cat) and virulence genes (including entA, entG, entJ, entP) were associated with specific plasmid groups suggesting there are genetic pressures preventing recombination of these genes into novel plasmid groups. Whole genome microarray analysis revealed that plasmid rep, resistance and virulence genes were associated with S. aureus lineages, suggesting restriction-modification (RM) barriers to HGT of plasmids between strains exist. Conjugation transfer (tra) complex genes were rare.ConclusionThis study argues that genetic pressures are restraining the spread of resistance and virulence genes amongst S. aureus plasmids, and amongst S. aureus populations, delaying the emergence of fully virulent and resistant strains.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© McCarthy and Lindsay; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012