Microbiology Services Division, Health Protection Agency, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK.
Int J Med Microbiol. 2012 Jul;302(3):135-44. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2012.02.002. Epub 2012 Jun 4.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from humans can be broadly separated into 3 groups: healthcare-associated (HA), community-associated (CA), and livestock-associated (LA) MRSA. Initially based on epidemiological features, division into these classes is becoming increasingly problematic. The sequencing of S. aureus genomes has highlighted variations in their accessory components, which likely account for differences in pathogenicity and epidemicity. In particular, temperate bacteriophages have been regarded as key players in bacterial pathogenesis. Bacteriophage-associated Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes (luk-PV) are regarded as epidemiological markers of the CA-MRSA due to their high prevalence in CA strains. This paper describes the development and application of a partial composite S. aureus virulence-associated gene microarray. Epidemic, pandemic, and sporadic lineages of UK HA and CA S. aureus were compared. Phage structural genes linked with CA isolates were identified and in silico analysis revealed these to be correlated with phage serogroup. CA strains predominantly carried a PVL-associated phage either of the A or Fb serogroup, whilst HA strains predominantly carried serogroup Fa or B phages. We speculate that carriage of a serogroup A/Fb PVL-associated phage rather than the luk-PV genes specifically is correlated with CA status.
耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）可从人类中大致分为 3 组：医院相关（HA）、社区相关（CA）和牲畜相关（LA）MRSA。最初基于流行病学特征，将其分为这些类别越来越成问题。金黄色葡萄球菌基因组的测序突出了其附属成分的差异，这些差异可能导致了致病性和流行性的差异。特别是，温和噬菌体被认为是细菌发病机制的关键因素。由于 CA 株中存在较高的流行率，因此噬菌体相关的潘顿-瓦伦丁白细胞毒素基因（luk-PV）被认为是 CA-MRSA 的流行病学标志物。本文描述了一种部分复合金黄色葡萄球菌毒力相关基因微阵列的开发和应用。比较了英国 HA 和 CA 金黄色葡萄球菌的流行、大流行和散发病例谱系。鉴定出与 CA 分离株相关的噬菌体结构基因，并进行了计算机分析，结果表明这些基因与噬菌体血清群相关。CA 株主要携带与 A 或 Fb 血清群相关的 PVL 相关噬菌体，而 HA 株主要携带血清群 Fa 或 B 噬菌体。我们推测，携带 A/Fb 血清群 PVL 相关噬菌体而不是特定的 luk-PV 基因与 CA 状态相关。
