Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Mar;57(3):1509-12.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.01260-12. Epub 2012 Dec 17.

Accessory gene regulator (agr) dysfunction in Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream isolates from South Korean patients

Yong Pil Chong  1 , Eun Sil Kim, Su-Jin Park, Ki-Ho Park, Tark Kim, Mi-Na Kim, Sung-Han Kim, Sang-Oh Lee, Sang-Ho Choi, Jun Hee Woo, Jin-Yong Jeong, Yang Soo Kim
Affiliations

Accessory gene regulator (agr) dysfunction in Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream isolates from South Korean patients

Yong Pil Chong et al. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

We describe the genetic and microbiological characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream isolates with agr dysfunction from a tertiary-care hospital in Korea. Of these, ST5-SCCmec type II-agr group II MRSA isolates, which are known to be prevalent in hospital-acquired infections in Korea, were the most abundant, because of the clonal spread of a specific agr-defective lineage. This finding suggests that the loss of agr function may confer a potential advantage in a hospital setting. Clonal spread of a specific defective-agr strain was not observed among community-associated MRSA or methicillin-susceptible S. aureus clones, regardless of community or hospital acquisition of infection. agr-defective clones, including ST5 and ST239 MRSA, were enriched for heteroresistant vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Novick RP. 2003. Autoinduction and signal transduction in the regulation of staphylococcal virulence. Mol. Microbiol. 48:1429–1449 - PubMed
    1. Wright JS, III, Jin R, Novick RP. 2005. Transient interference with staphylococcal quorum sensing blocks abscess formation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 102:1691–1696 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shopsin B, Eaton C, Wasserman GA, Mathema B, Adhikari RP, Agolory S, Altman DR, Holzman RS, Kreiswirth BN, Novick RP. 2010. Mutations in agr do not persist in natural populations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J. Infect. Dis. 202:1593–1599 - PubMed
    1. Tsuji BT, Rybak MJ, Lau KL, Sakoulas G. 2007. Evaluation of accessory gene regulator (agr) group and function in the proclivity towards vancomycin intermediate resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51:1089–1091 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fowler VG, Sakoulas G, McIntyre LM, Meka VG, Arbeit RD, Cabell CH, Stryjewski ME, Eliopoulos GM, Reller LB, Corey GR, Jones T, Lucindo N, Yeaman MR, Bayer AS. 2004. Persistent bacteremia due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection is associated with agr dysfunction and low-level in vitro resistance to thrombin-induced platelet microbicidal protein. J. Infect. Dis. 190:1140–1149 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources