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. 2017 Apr 4;17(1):83.
doi: 10.1186/s12866-017-0994-6.

In vitro transfer of methicillin resistance determinants mecA from methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)

Asinamai Athliamai Bitrus  1 , Zakaria Zunita  2 , Siti Khairani Bejo  1 , Sarah Othman  3 , Nur Adilah Ahmad Nadzir  1
Affiliations

In vitro transfer of methicillin resistance determinants mecA from methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)

Asinamai Athliamai Bitrus et al. BMC Microbiol. .

Abstract

Background: Staphylococcus aureus more than any other human pathogen is a better model for the study of the adaptive evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, as it has demonstrated a remarkable ability in its response to new antibiotics. This study was designed to investigate the in vitro transfer of mecA gene from methicillin resistant S. aureus to methicillin susceptible S. aureus.

Result: The recipient transconjugants were resistant to erythromycin, cefpodoxime and were mecA positive. PCR amplification of mecA after mix culture plating on Luria Bertani agar containing 100 μg/mL showed that 75% of the donor and 58.3% of the recipient transconjugants were mecA positive. Additionally, 61.5% of both the donor cells and recipient transconjugants were mecA positive, while 46.2% and 41.75% of both donor and recipient transconjugants were mecA positive on LB agar containing 50 μg/mL and 30 μg/mL respectively.

Conclusion: In this study, the direction of transfer of phenotypic resistance as well as mecA was observed to have occurred from the donor to the recipient strains. This study affirmed the importance of horizontal transfer events in the dissemination of antibiotics resistance among different strains of MRSA.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Horizontal gene transfer; Methicillin; Resistance; Staphylococcus aureus.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Amplification of a 163 bp gene fragment of methicillin resistance determinants (mecA) fragments of MRSA. b Gel image showing PCR amplification of 276 bp thermostable nuclease (nuc) and 533 bp methicillin resistance determinant (mecA) gene fragment
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
PCR amplification of a 356 bp gene fragment of the universal insertion site of SCCmec or open reading frame (orfX)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Electropherograph of a 280 bp gene fragment of Staphylococcus cassette chromosome mec type III
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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