title: Genomic Basis for Methicillin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: Since the discovery of the first strain in 1961 in England, MRSA, the most notorious multidrug-resistant hospital pathogen, has spread all over the world. MRSA repeatedly turned down the challenges by number of chemotherapeutics, the fruits of modern organic chemistry. Now, we are in short of effective therapeutic agents against MRSA prevailing among immuno-compromised patients in the hospital. On top of this, we recently became aware of the rise of diverse clones of MRSA, some of which have increased pathogenic potential compared to the classical hospital-associated MRSA, and the others from veterinary sources. They increased rapidly in the community, and started menacing otherwise healthy individuals by causing unexpected acute infection. This review is intended to provide a whole picture of MRSA based on its genetic makeup as a versatile pathogen and our tenacious colonizer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan. ; Research Center for Infection Control Science, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Teruyo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Sae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsubakishita
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Yuh
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuwahara-Arai
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hishinuma
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baba
keywords: Hetero-resistance; SCCmec; mecA; mecB; mecC; oriC environ; rpoB