title: A virulence-associated gene microarray: a tool for investigation of the evolution and pathogenic potential of Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: An oligonucleotide probe microarray for investigation of the evolution of epidemic Staphylococcus aureus strains has been constructed. The array comprises 383 probes based on virulence-associated genes present in four key strains. Twelve strains including seven for which the complete chromosomal nucleotide sequence was available were tested on the array. Twenty-six per cent of the probes were able to differentiate between strains to give a minimum of two gene differences between pairs. A gene difference distance tree based on the array data had approximately the same topology as one prepared using concatenated MLST sequences. Differences in the topologies of these trees were found to indicate that large-scale recombination events had occurred during the evolution of the species. One such occurrence appears to have been a key event in the genesis of the EMRSA-15 clone (ST22) that currently represents the most prevalent methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in the UK.
authors.affiliation: Genomics Proteomics and Bioinformatics Unit, Health Protection Agency (Colindale), 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: Genomics Proteomics and Bioinformatics Unit, Health Protection Agency (Colindale), 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Healthcare Associated Infection, Health Protection Agency (Colindale), 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kearns
authors.affiliation: Genomics Proteomics and Bioinformatics Unit, Health Protection Agency (Colindale), 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hallas
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D037521:Virulence Factors