title: The Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec type V from Staphylococcus aureus ST398 is packaged into bacteriophage capsids.
abstract: The Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec) confers methicillin resistance to Staphylococcus aureus. While SCCmec is generally regarded as a mobile genetic element, the precise mechanisms by which large SCCmec elements are exchanged between staphylococci have remained enigmatic. In the present studies, we observed that the clinical methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolate UMCG-M4 with the sequence type 398 contains four prophages belonging to the serological groups A, B and Fa. Previous studies have shown that certain serological group B bacteriophages of S. aureus are capable of generalized transduction. We therefore assessed the transducing capabilities of the phages from strain UMCG-M4. The results show that some of these phages can indeed transduce plasmid pT181 to the recipient S. aureus strain RN4220. Therefore, we also investigated the possible involvement of these transducing phages in the transmission of the large SCCmec type V (5C2&5) element of S. aureus UMCG-M4. While no transduction of the complete SCCmec element was observed, we were able to demonstrate that purified phage particles did contain large parts of the SCCmec element of the donor strain, including the methicillin resistance gene mecA. This shows that staphylococcal phages can encapsulate the resistance determinant mecA of a large SCCmec type V (5C2&5) element, which may lead to its transfer to other staphylococci.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Monika A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chlebowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mašlaňová
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuntová
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hajo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grundmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pantůček
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Doškař
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: J.M.van.Dijl01@umcg.nl.
authors.forename: Jan Maarten
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: van Dijl
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Girbe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buist
mesh_terms: D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D010957:Plasmids; D039002:Prophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D019065:Virus Assembly
keywords: Phage; SCCmec; ST398; Staphylococcus aureus; Transduction