JCM Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Saïd-Salim, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kreiswirth, B. N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Saïd-Salim, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kreiswirth, B. N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3373-3379, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3373-3379.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Differential Distribution and Expression of Panton-Valentine Leucocidin among Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains

Battouli Saïd-Salim,1 Barun Mathema,1 Kevin Braughton,2 Stacy Davis,1 Daniel Sinsimer,1,3 William Eisner,1 Yekaterina Likhoshvay,1 Frank R. DeLeo,2 and Barry N. Kreiswirth1*

TB Center, Public Health Research Institute, Newark, New Jersey 07103,1 Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840,2 and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 071033

Received 2 November 2004/ Returned for modification 23 December 2004/ Accepted 25 February 2005

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is an emerging threat worldwide. CA-MRSA strains differ from hospital-acquired MRSA strains in their antibiotic susceptibilities and genetic backgrounds. Using several genotyping methods, we clearly define CA-MRSA at the genetic level and demonstrate that the prototypic CA-MRSA strain, MW2, has spread as a homogeneous clonal strain family that is distinct from other CA-MRSA strains. The Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-encoding genes, lukF and lukS, are prevalent among CA-MRSA strains and have previously been associated with CA-MRSA infections. To better elucidate the role of PVL in the pathogenesis of CA-MRSA, we first analyzed the distribution and expression of PVL among different CA-MRSA strains. Our data demonstrate that PVL genes are differentially distributed among CA-MRSA strains and, when they are present, are always transcribed, albeit with strain-to-strain variability of transcript levels. To directly test whether PVL is critical for the pathogenesis of CA-MRSA, we evaluated the lysis of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) during phagocytic interaction with PVL-positive and PVL-negative CA-MRSA strains. Unexpectedly, there was no correlation between PVL expression and PMN lysis, suggesting that additional virulence factors underlie leukotoxicity and, thus, the pathogenesis of CA-MRSA.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: TB Center, Public Health Research Institute, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103. Phone: (973) 854-3240. Fax: (973) 854-3241. E-mail: barry{at}phri.org.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3373-3379, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3373-3379.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2005 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.