Analysis of borderline-resistant strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using polymerase chain reaction.
Identification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by drug-susceptibility tests alone poses a serious problem, because a considerable number of clinical S. aureus isolates are borderline resistant to methicillin. To circumvent this problem, we have developed a quick and sensitive method of PCR amplification for the detection of mecA gene, which, coding for PBP2', is the specific genetic element of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This method made it possible to identify MRSA strains in a short time using as few as 30 cells as a starting material for template DNA. Using this method, we found that the strains of borderline methicillin-resistance could be accurately identified. We also found one S. aureus clinical strain, T3, which lacked mecA gene in spite of its resistance to methicillin.
Hiramatsu
K
K
Department of Bacteriology, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan.
Kihara
H
H
Yokota
T
T
D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D015151:Immunoblotting; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D009841:Oligonucleotides