Premium
Bacteriophages of S taphylococcus aureus efficiently package various bacterial genes and mobile genetic elements including SCC mec with different frequencies
Author(s) -
Mašlaňová Ivana,
Doškař Jiří,
Varga Marian,
Kuntová Lucie,
Mužík Jan,
Malúšková Denisa,
Růžičková Vladislava,
Pantůček Roman
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
environmental microbiology reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.229
H-Index - 69
ISSN - 1758-2229
DOI - 10.1111/j.1758-2229.2012.00378.x
Subject(s) - plasmid , biology , mobile genetic elements , bacteriophage , gene , sccmec , pathogenicity island , virulence , horizontal gene transfer , microbiology and biotechnology , staphylococcus aureus , integrase , temperateness , prophage , genetics , transduction (biophysics) , chromosome , genome , bacteria , escherichia coli , methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus , biochemistry
Summary S taphylococcus aureus is a serious human and veterinary pathogen in which new strains with increasing virulence and antimicrobial resistance occur due to acquiring new genes by horizontal transfer. It is generally accepted that temperate bacteriophages play a major role in gene transfer. In this study, we proved the presence of various bacterial genes of the S . aureus COL strain directly within the phage particles via qPCR and quantified their packaging frequency. Non‐parametric statistical analysis showed that transducing bacteriophages φ11, φ80 and φ80α of serogroup B , in contrast to serogroup A bacteriophage φ81, efficiently package selected chromosomal genes localized in 4 various loci of the chromosome and 8 genes carried on variable elements, such as staphylococcal cassette chromosome SCC mec , staphylococcal pathogenicity island SaPI 1, genomic islands vSa α and vSa β, and plasmids with various frequency. Bacterial gene copy number per ng of DNA isolated from phage particles ranged between 1.05 × 10 2 for the tetK plasmid gene and 3.86 × 10 5 for the SaPI 1 integrase gene. The new and crucial finding that serogroup B bacteriophages can package concurrently ccrA1 (1.16 × 10 4 ) and mecA (1.26 × 10 4 ) located at SCC mec type I into their capsids indicates that generalized transduction plays an important role in the evolution and emergence of new methicillin‐resistant clones.