title: Allelic variation in genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin from community-associated Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates characteristically contain the genes for Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which is a proposed virulence factor. To determine whether different alleles of the PVL genes lukS-PV and lukF-PV occur, and whether they are associated with specific genetic lineages of S. aureus, sequences from 28 S. aureus isolates, representing four different multilocus sequence types, and bacteriophages SLT and PVL were compared. Seven nucleotide polymorphisms were identified, which defined three groups of the lukS-PV and lukF-PV sequence. Only one polymorphism resulted in an amino-acid change. Bacteriophage SLT and isolates of bacteriophage type 80/81 contained the prototypic (founder) lukS-PV and lukF-PV sequence. The alleles were not lineage-specific.
authors.affiliation: Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68178, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wolter
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Tenover
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Goering
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D008040:Genetic Linkage / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007956:Leukocidins / Q000235:genetics*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D005098:Exotoxins; D007956:Leukocidins; C078284:Panton-Valentine leukocidin