Skin commensal staphylococci may act as reservoir for fusidic acid resistance genes
Journal
PLoS ONE
Journal Volume
10
Journal Issue
11
Pages
143106
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Hung W.-C.
Chen H.-J.
Lin Y.-T.
Chen C.-W.
Lu H.-H.
Tseng S.-P.
Jheng Y.-Y.
Leong K.H.
Abstract
We analyzed the occurrence and mechanisms of fusidic acid resistance present in staphylococci isolated from 59 healthy volunteers. The fingers of the volunteers were screened for the presence of staphylococci, and the collected isolates were tested for resistance to fusidic acid. A total of 34 fusidic acid resistant staphylococcal strains (all were coagulase-negative) were isolated from 22 individuals (22/59, 37.3%). Examination of the resistance genes revealed that acquired fusB or fusC was present in Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus capitis subsp. urealyticus, Staphylococcus hominis subsp. hominis, Staphylococcus warneri and Staphylococcus haemolyticus. Resistance islands (RIs) carrying fusB were found in S. epidermidis and S. capitis subsp. urealyticus, while staphylococcal chromosome cassette (SCC)-related structures harboring fusC were found in S. hominis subsp. hominis. Genotypic analysis of S. epidermidis and S. hominis subsp. hominis indicated that the fus elements were disseminated in diverse genetic strain backgrounds. The fusC elements in S. hominis subsp. hominis strains were highly homologous to SCCfusC in the epidemic sequence type (ST) 239/SCCmecIII methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) or the pseudo SCCmec in ST779 MRSA. The presence of acquired fusidic acid resistance genes and their genetic environment in commensal staphylococci suggested that the skin commensal staphylococci may act as reservoir for fusidic acid resistance genes. ? 2015 Copyright Hung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
SDGs
Other Subjects
fusidic acid; fusidic acid; antibiotic resistance; antibiotic sensitivity; Article; bacterial gene; bacterial strain; bacterium isolate; bacterium isolation; commensal; fusB gene; fusC gene; genetic strain; genotype; human; methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus; multilocus sequence typing; nonhuman; nucleotide sequence; screening; skin flora; species distribution; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus capitis; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Staphylococcus haemolyticus; Staphylococcus hominis; Staphylococcus warneri; adolescent; antibiotic resistance; drug effects; genetics; hand; microbiology; molecular genetics; skin; species difference; Staphylococcus; Adolescent; Base Sequence; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Fusidic Acid; Genes, Bacterial; Genotype; Hand; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Skin; Species Specificity; Staphylococcus
Type
journal article