Evolution of MRSA During Hospital Transmission and Intercontinental Spread

MRSA, Close and Personal Methods for differentiating pathogen isolates are essential for understanding their evolution and spread, as well as for the formulation of effective clinical strategies. Current typing methods for bacterial pathogens focus on a limited set of characteristics providing data with limited resolving power. Harris et al. (p. 469) used a high-throughput genome sequencing approach to show that isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are precisely differentiated into a global geographic structure. The findings suggest that intercontinental transmission has occurred for nearly four decades. The method could also detect individual person-to-person transmission events of MRSA within a hospital environment. By tracing the microevolution of a pathogen, high-throughput genomics reveals person-to-person transmission events. Current methods for differentiating isolates of predominant lineages of pathogenic bacteria often do not provide sufficient resolution to define precise relationships. Here, we describe a high-throughput genomics approach that provides a high-resolution view of the epidemiology and microevolution of a dominant strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This approach reveals the global geographic structure within the lineage, its intercontinental transmission through four decades, and the potential to trace person-to-person transmission within a hospital environment. The ability to interrogate and resolve bacterial populations is applicable to a range of infectious diseases, as well as microbial ecology.

[1]  C. Fishwick,et al.  Analysis of mutational resistance to trimethoprim in Staphylococcus aureus by genetic and structural modelling techniques. , 2009, The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy.

[2]  A. Voss,et al.  MRSA genotypes in Turkey: persistence over 10 years of a single clone of ST239. , 2009, The Journal of infection.

[3]  E. Feil,et al.  Predominance of the Hungarian clone (ST 239-III) among hospital-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered throughout mainland China. , 2009, The Journal of hospital infection.

[4]  N. Moran,et al.  The Dynamics and Time Scale of Ongoing Genomic Erosion in Symbiotic Bacteria , 2009, Science.

[5]  Mirjam Feldkamp,et al.  Frequent emergence and limited geographic dispersal of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[6]  K. Boye,et al.  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospitals in Tbilisi, the Republic of Georgia, are variants of the Brazilian clone , 2008, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

[7]  Ge Zhang,et al.  Rapid Detection of the Pandemic Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clone ST 239, a Dominant Strain in Asian Hospitals , 2008, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[8]  R. Beale,et al.  An outbreak in an intensive care unit of a strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus sequence type 239 associated with an increased rate of vascular access device-related bacteremia. , 2007, Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

[9]  G. Sensabaugh,et al.  Clonal Composition of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates at a Brazilian University Hospital: Identification of International Circulating Lineages , 2006, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[10]  Eduardo P C Rocha,et al.  Comparisons of dN/dS are time dependent for closely related bacterial genomes. , 2006, Journal of theoretical biology.

[11]  K. Ko,et al.  Distribution of Major Genotypes among Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clones in Asian Countries , 2005, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[12]  M. Holden,et al.  Staphylococcus aureus: superbug, super genome? , 2004, Trends in microbiology.

[13]  I. Chopra,et al.  The isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase mutation V588F conferring mupirocin resistance in glycopeptide-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus is not associated with a significant fitness burden. , 2003, The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy.

[14]  J. Rothgänger,et al.  Typing of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a University Hospital Setting by Using Novel Software for spa Repeat Determination and Database Management , 2003, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[15]  H. de Lencastre,et al.  Update on the Major Clonal Types of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the Czech Republic , 2003, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[16]  T. Wichelhaus,et al.  Molecular analysis of fusidic acid resistance in Staphylococcus aureus , 2003, Molecular microbiology.

[17]  T. Wichelhaus,et al.  Biological Cost of Rifampin Resistance from the Perspective of Staphylococcus aureus , 2002, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

[18]  C. Walsh,et al.  The evolutionary history of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  D. Falush,et al.  Recombination and mutation during long-term gastric colonization by Helicobacter pylori: Estimates of clock rates, recombination size, and minimal age , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[20]  N. Moran,et al.  Calibrating bacterial evolution. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  M. Achtman,et al.  Multilocus sequence typing: a portable approach to the identification of clones within populations of pathogenic microorganisms. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[22]  M. Page,et al.  A single amino acid substitution in Staphylococcus aureus dihydrofolate reductase determines trimethoprim resistance. , 1997, Journal of molecular biology.

[23]  C. E. Zobell,et al.  THE BACTERIAL OXIDATION OF RUBBER. , 1942, Science.

[24]  F. Baquero,et al.  Evolutionary biology of bacterial and fungal pathogens , 2008 .

[25]  D. Morrison,et al.  Spread of a single multiresistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone carrying a variant of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type III isolated in a university hospital , 2006, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

[26]  A. Tomasz,et al.  The evolution of pandemic clones of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: identification of two ancestral genetic backgrounds and the associated mec elements. , 2001, Microbial drug resistance.

[27]  M. Tanaka,et al.  Mechanism of quinolone resistance in Staphylococcus aureus , 2000, Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy.