Staphylococcal chromosomal cassettes mec (SCCmec): A mobile genetic element in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Considered to be a potential "superbug", methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been one of the major recent infectious pathogens and thus poses a challenge to hospital infection control. The mobile genetic element staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) carries both the mecA or mecC gene, encoding for a novel speciﬁc penicillin-binding protein (PBP2a), and site-speciﬁc recombinase genes ccrAB or/and ccrC. In MRSA, the acquisition of SCCmec leads to the resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics. As SCCmec plays a core role in the antimicrobial resistance characteristics, molecular epidemiology and evolution of MRSA, a thorough summary and comprehensive understanding of the prevalence and structural characteristics of SCCmec may aid in global surveillance, implementation and investigation on MRSA isolates, as well as further development of preventive and therapeutic approaches. Consequently, this review is aimed at describing the history, prevalence, types and subtypes, and current typing methods of SCCmec, with the focus on the typical structures of the SCCmec cassette.
College of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR China; Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
Junyan
J
Liu
Department of Laboratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou 510120, PR China.
Dingqiang
D
Chen
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
Brian M
BM
Peters
College of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
Lin
L
Li
College of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
Bing
B
Li
College of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR China; Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, School of Dentistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: zhenbo.xu@hotmail.com.
Zhenbo
Z
Xu
Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, School of Dentistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Mark E
ME
Shirliff
D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D058889:Molecular Typing; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology
Antimicrobial resistance; MRSA; Mobile genetic element; SCCmec; SCCmec typing