The genes for Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) are conserved in diverse lines of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated in the community (CA-MRSA) have been reported to carry the loci for Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) in high frequency. CA-MRSA in Orebro County, Sweden, constitutes at least 50% of MRSA and the PVL locus is detected in as many as 66% of these CA-MRSA isolates. The aim of this study was to characterize PVL-positive methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus by molecular methods, to determine the nucleotide sequence of lukS-PV and lukF-PV in S. aureus isolates of different origins, and to investigate the biological consequence of variations occurring in the genes. The PVL-positive MRSA investigated were composed of six different STs (ST8, 36, 80, 152, 154, and 256). Six additional STs (ST5, 22, 25, 30, 88, and 567) were detected when investigating PVL-positive methicillin-susceptible S. aureus with MLST. Despite the different genetic origins of the isolates analyzed, the PVL genes were well conserved and only one mutation was non-synonymous. Evaluation of the consequence of this mutation showed that the mutated toxin and wild-type toxin had comparable biological activity on human polymorphonuclear cells.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Mikrobiologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Microbiology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Bacterial Proteins/genetics/toxicity

Bacterial Toxins/*genetics/toxicity

Cluster Analysis

Community-Acquired Infections/microbiology

Conserved Sequence

DNA; Bacterial/chemistry/genetics

Exotoxins/*genetics/toxicity

Genotype

Humans

Leukocidins/*genetics/toxicity

Methicillin Resistance

Neutrophils/drug effects

Sequence Analysis; DNA

Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology

Staphylococcus aureus/classification/*drug effects/*genetics/isolation & purification

Sweden

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases

Mikrobiologi, immunologi, infektionssjukdomar

Immunologi

Immunology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

art (subject category)