Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5674090 | Microbial Pathogenesis | 2016 | 12 Pages |
Abstract
Considered to be a potential “superbug”, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been one of the major recent infectious pathogens and thus poses a challenge to hospital infection control. The mobile genetic element staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) carries both the mecA or mecC gene, encoding for a novel speciï¬c penicillin-binding protein (PBP2a), and site-speciï¬c recombinase genes ccrAB or/and ccrC. In MRSA, the acquisition of SCCmec leads to the resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics. As SCCmec plays a core role in the antimicrobial resistance characteristics, molecular epidemiology and evolution of MRSA, a thorough summary and comprehensive understanding of the prevalence and structural characteristics of SCCmec may aid in global surveillance, implementation and investigation on MRSA isolates, as well as further development of preventive and therapeutic approaches. Consequently, this review is aimed at describing the history, prevalence, types and subtypes, and current typing methods of SCCmec, with the focus on the typical structures of the SCCmec cassette.
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Authors
Junyan Liu, Dingqiang Chen, Brian M. Peters, Lin Li, Bing Li, Zhenbo Xu, Mark E. Shirliff,