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Major Families of Multiresistant Plasmids from Geographically and Epidemiologically Diverse Staphylococci

Shearer, JE; Wireman, J; Hostetler, J; Forberger, H; Borman, J; Gill, J; Sanchez, S; Mankin, A; Lamarre, J; Lindsay, JA; et al. Shearer, JE; Wireman, J; Hostetler, J; Forberger, H; Borman, J; Gill, J; Sanchez, S; Mankin, A; Lamarre, J; Lindsay, JA; Bayles, K; Nicholson, A; O'Brien, F; Jensen, SO; Firth, N; Skurray, RA; Summers, AO (2011) Major Families of Multiresistant Plasmids from Geographically and Epidemiologically Diverse Staphylococci. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS, 1 (7). 581 - 591. ISSN 2160-1836 https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.111.000760
SGUL Authors: Lindsay, Jodi Anne

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Abstract

Staphylococci are increasingly aggressive human pathogens suggesting that active evolution is spreading novel virulence and resistance phenotypes. Large staphylococcal plasmids commonly carry antibiotic resistances and virulence loci, but relatively few have been completely sequenced. We determined the plasmid content of 280 staphylococci isolated in diverse geographical regions from the 1940s to the 2000s and found that 79% of strains carried at least one large plasmid >20 kb and that 75% of these large plasmids were 20–30 kb. Using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, we grouped 43% of all large plasmids into three major families, showing remarkably conserved intercontinental spread of multiresistant staphylococcal plasmids over seven decades. In total, we sequenced 93 complete and 57 partial staphylococcal plasmids ranging in size from 1.3 kb to 64.9 kb, tripling the number of complete sequences for staphylococcal plasmids >20 kb in the NCBI RefSeq database. These plasmids typically carried multiple antimicrobial and metal resistances and virulence genes, transposases and recombinases. Remarkably, plasmids within each of the three main families were >98% identical, apart from insertions and deletions, despite being isolated from strains decades apart and on different continents. This suggests enormous selective pressure has optimized the content of certain plasmids despite their large size and complex organization.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright © 2011 Shearer et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: MRSA, horizontal gene transfer, mobile element genomics, plasmid, resistance, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Genetics & Heredity, GENETICS & HEREDITY, plasmid, resistance, mobile element genomics, MRSA, horizontal gene transfer, COMPLETE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE, HORIZONTAL GENE-TRANSFER, METHICILLIN-RESISTANT, CADMIUM RESISTANCE, AUREUS STRAINS, ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY, SEGREGATIONAL STABILITY, COMPARATIVE GENOMICS, BACTERIAL PLASMIDS, UNITED-STATES
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Infection and Immunity Research Institute (INII)
Journal or Publication Title: G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
ISSN: 2160-1836
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Dates:
DateEvent
1 December 2011Published
Web of Science ID: WOS:000312410300007
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/107151
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.111.000760

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