Optical mapping reveals a large genetic inversion between two methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains.

ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus aureus is a highly versatile and evolving bacterium of great clinical importance. S. aureus can evolve by acquiring single nucleotide polymorphisms and mobile genetic elements and by recombination events. Identification and location of novel genomic elements in a bacterial genome are not straightforward, unless the whole genome is sequenced. Optical mapping is a new tool that creates a high-resolution, in situ ordered restriction map of a bacterial genome. These maps can be used to determine genomic organization and perform comparative genomics to identify genomic rearrangements, such as insertions, deletions, duplications, and inversions, compared to an in silico (virtual) restriction map of a known genome sequence. Using this technology, we report here the identification,

SUBMITTER: Shukla SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2737957 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature