title: Additional DNA in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and molecular cloning of mec-specific DNA.
abstract: Additional DNA was shown to be present in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by one- and two-dimensional restriction endonuclease analyses of the chromosomal DNA. A 3.5-kilobase Bg/II fragment, which was present in methicillin-resistant strains but not in the isogenic methicillin-sensitive parental strain, was cloned into newly constructed plasmid pWDB1 in Escherichia coli. Hybridization of this 3.5-kilobase Bg/II fragment with different methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant S. aureus clinical isolates indicated that the fragment represents part of the methicillin resistance determinant (mec). In addition, the fragment carries a sequence that is present in some large staphylococcal plasmids, as well as in penicillinase plasmid pI524.
mesh_terms: D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008712:Methicillin; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D008712:Methicillin