Phage-mediated horizontal transfer of a Staphylococcus aureus virulence-associated genomic island.

ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen of humans and animals. The capacity of S. aureus to adapt to different host species and tissue types is strongly influenced by the acquisition of mobile genetic elements encoding determinants involved in niche adaptation. The genomic islands νSaα and νSaβ are found in almost all S. aureus strains and are characterized by extensive variation in virulence gene content. However the basis for the diversity and the mechanism underlying mobilization of the genomic islands between strains are unexplained. Here, we demonstrated that the genomic island, νSaβ, encoding an array of virulence factors including staphylococcal superantigens, proteases, and leukotoxins, in addition to bacteriocins, was transferrable in vitro to human and animal strains of multipl

SUBMITTER: Moon BY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4402969 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature