characterization of a new sccmec element in staphylococcus cohnii描述一个新的在葡萄球菌cohnii sccmec元素.pdfVIP

Characterization of a New SCCmec Element in Staphylococcus cohnii 1,2 ¨ 1 Zhiyong Zong *, Xiaoju Lu 1 Center of Infectious Diseases, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 2 Division of Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Chengdu, China Abstract Background: Many SCCmec elements of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) could not be typed using multiplex PCR. Such a ‘non-typable’ SCCmec was encountered in a Staphylococcus cohnii isolate. Methodology/Principal Findings: The SCCmec type of methicillin-resistant S. cohnii clinical isolate WC28 could not be assigned using multiplex PCR. Newly-designed primers were used to amplify ccrA and ccrB genes. The whole SCCmec was obtained by three overlapping long-range PCR, targeting regions from left-hand inverted repeat (IRL) to ccrA/B, from ccrA/B to mecA and from mecA to orfX. The region abutting IRL was identified using inverse PCR with self-ligated enzyme-restricted WC28 fragments as the template. WC28 SCCmec had a class A mec gene complex (mecI-mecR1-mecA). The ccrA and ccrB genes were closest (89.7% identity) to ccrASHP of Staphylococcus haemolyticus strain H9 and to ccrB3 (90% identity) of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius strain KM241, respectively. Two new genes potentially encoding AAA-type ATPase were found in J1 region and a yTn554 transposon was present in J2 region, while J3 region was the same as many SCCmec of Staphylococcus aureus. WC28 SCCmec abutted an incomplete SCC element with a novel allotype of ccrC, which was closest (82% identity) to ccrC1 allele 9 in Staphylococcus saprophyticus strain ATCC 15305. Only two direct target repeat sequences, one close to the 39-end of orfX and the other abutting the left end of WC28 SCCmec, could be detected. Conclusions/Significance: A