Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus protein A (spa) mutants in the community and hospitals in Oxfordshire.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Staphylococcal protein A (spa) is an important virulence factor which enables Staphylococcus aureus to evade host immune responses. Genotypes known as "spa-types", based on highly variable Xr region sequences of the spa-gene, are frequently used to classify strains. A weakness of current spa-typing primers is that rearrangements in the IgG-binding region of the gene cause 1-2% of strains to be designated as "non-typeable".

Results

We developed an improved primer which enabled sequencing of all strains, containing any type of genetic rearrangement, in a large study among community carriers and hospital inpatients in Oxfordshire, UK (6110 isolates). We identified eight novel spa-gene variants, plus one previously described. Three of these rearrangements would be des

SUBMITTER: Votintseva AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4007515 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature