Recombinations in staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec elements compromise the molecular detection of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: Clinical laboratories are increasingly using molecular tests for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening. However, primers have to be targeted to a variable chromosomal region, the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). We initially screened 726 MRSA isolates from a single UK hospital trust by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), a novel, isothermal alternative to PCR. Undetected isolates were further characterised using multilocus sequence, spa typing and whole genome sequencing. 96% of our tested phenotypically MRSA isolates contained one of the six orfX-SCCmec junctions our RPA test and commercially available molecular tests target. However 30 isolates could not be detected. Sequencing of 24 of these isolates demonstrated recombinations within the S

SUBMITTER: Hill-Cawthorne GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4074205 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature