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Article

Antimicrobial Resistance, SCCmec, Virulence and Genotypes of MRSA in Southern China for 7 Years: Filling the Gap of Molecular Epidemiology

1
College of Light Industry and Food Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Lingnan Specialty Food Science and Technology, Academy of Contemporary Agricultural Engineering Innovations, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
2
Key Laboratory of Green Processing and Intelligent Manufacturing of Lingnan Specialty Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510225, China
3
Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515063, China
4
Home Economics Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
5
Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
6
Center of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510620, China
7
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, China
8
Department of Dermato-Venereology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yan-Sen University, Guangzhou 510630, China
9
Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510120, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Antibiotics 2023, 12(2), 368; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12020368
Submission received: 5 November 2022 / Revised: 6 December 2022 / Accepted: 16 January 2023 / Published: 10 February 2023

Abstract

:
As the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus infections is of worldwide concern, phenotype and genotype in prevalent MRSA strains require longitudinal investigation. In this study, the antibiotic resistance, virulence gene acquisition, and molecular type were determined on a large scale of nosocomial S. aureus strains in Southern China during 2009–2015. Bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility to 10 antibiotics were tested by Vitek-2. Virulence genes encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEA, SEB, SEC, SED, and SEE), exfoliative toxins (ETA and ETB), Panton–Valentine leukocidin (PVL), and toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST) were detected by PCR, with SCCmec typing also conducted by multiplex PCR strategy. Genotypes were discriminated by MLST and spaA typing. MLST was performed by amplification of the internal region of seven housekeeping genes. PCR amplification targeting the spa gene was performed for spa typing. No resistance to vancomycin, linezolid, or quinupristin and increase in the resistance to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (55.5%) were identified. A total of nine SCCmec types and subtypes, thirteen STs clustered into thirteen spa types were identified, with ST239-SCCmec III-t037 presenting the predominant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) clone. Typically, SCCmec type IX and ST546 were emergent types in China. Isolates positive for both pvl and tsst genes and for both eta and etb genes were also identified. Important findings in this study include: firstly, we have provided comprehensive knowledge on the molecular epidemiology of MRSA in Southern China which fills the gap since 2006 or 2010 from previous studies. Secondly, we have presented the correlation between virulence factors (four major groups) and genotypes (SCCmec, ST and spa types). Thirdly, we have shown evidence for earliest emergence of type I SCCmec from 2012, type VI from 2009 and type XI from 2012 in MRSA from Southern China.

1. Introduction

As a major human pathogen and important “superbug”, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is responsible for a wide range of infections and diseases due to possession of numerous virulence factors and toxins [1,2,3,4]. Currently, indiscriminate use of existing antibiotics which lead to the spread of antibiotic resistance, poses a dilemma for the treatment of bacterial infections [5,6,7,8,9]. Despite a variety of novel therapy and drug discovery, antibiotic resistance in microbes remains a major public health concern for the treatment of infectious diseases [10,11,12,13,14]. MRSA is one of such infectious bacteria that has become resistant to β-lactam antibiotics [15,16,17,18]. As China remains one of the worst areas for antibiotic abuse [19], it is necessary to raise general concerns regarding the surveillance and investigation of antibiotic resistance mechanism involved in clinical MRSA in China. To better understand the molecular evolution and epidemiological characterization of S. aureus, the analysis of SCCmec and genetic backgrounds mainly involved in randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) types, sequence types (STs), clone complexes (CCs), and spa types is necessary [20,21,22].
In China, the first evidence of molecular types in MRSA dates back to 2003. However, this study had been primarily conducted using a large number of samples (118) from a hospital in Taiwan with a much smaller number of samples (14) from a hospital in Nanjing in mainland China [23]. In 2007, we reported on ST239-MRSA and strains carrying class 1 integrons isolated in 2005. Ref. [5], for which we had further provided the SCCmec (type III), spa, and coa types in a subsequent study [24]. In 2008, we reported on the presence of the SCCmec of four different types of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS) [25]. In 2011, we conducted a molecular epidemiology study on MRSA isolates from 2001–2006, including SCCmec, RAPD, MLST, spa, and coa typing, as well as carriage of class 1 integrons [26]. In a subsequent study, we had provided evidence on the molecular epidemiology of MRSA during 2001–2010 [27]. As found from all above studies conducted in Guangzhou representative of Southern China, ST239-MRSA-III was highly prevalent, with only a few exceptions carrying type II SCCmec and none of other ST than ST239. Only one distinct coa type HIJKL and 2 spaA types (WGKAOMQ-t037 and WGKAQQ-t030 were identified during the study period of 2001–2010.
However, since the types of SCCmec has increased from six types (I to VI) in 2006 to fourteen (I to XIV) to date, the concern about the evolution of SCCmec and molecular epidemiology in MRSA since 2006 or 2010 in Southern China remains unclear but important [28,29]. Consequently, in this study, numerous S. aureus strains isolated in Southern China during 2009–2015, were subjected to antimicrobial resistance, virulence genes identification, SCCmec, MLST, and spa typing.

2. Results

2.1. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profile

For 524 S. aureus strains isolated from various departments, infection sites, and patients covering different age groups (Table 1), 490 (93.5%) MRSA and 34 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) were identified, respectively (Table 2). No resistance to vancomycin, linezolid, or quinupristin was detected, yet a percentage of the strains investigated demonstrated resistance to oxacillin (93.9%), erythromycin (83.9%), ciprofloxacin (80.0%), levofloxacin (79.5%), moxifloxacin (73.4%), clindamycin (73.1%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (55.5%) and rifampin (34.7%), totaling the multi-drug resistance rate as 88.7% (465/524).

2.2. Carriage of Virulence Genes

According to the results, SEs genes were commonly detected, with the identification rate of sea, seb, sec, sed, and see found to be 67.8% (352/519), 33.0% (171/519), 42.6% (221/519), 1.9% (10/519), 35.8% (186/519), respectively. For exfoliative toxins genes, 12.4% (61/493) and 9.6% (49/511) of the strains were positive for eta and etb. In addition, tsst and pvl were detected in 28.6% (146/511) and 14.9% (76/511) of strains.

2.3. SCCmec Types

As shown by the results of SCCmec typing, a total of 7 types and 2 subtypes were identified within 490 MRSA isolates (Table 2), including types I/IA, II, III/IIIA, IV, V, VI, and IX. The most prevalent SCCmec was type III (48.0%, 235/490, with 9.2% for subtype IIIA), followed by type II (18.6%, 91/490), IV (13.9%, 68/490), VI (6.3%, 31/490), V (3.7%, 18/490) and I (3.3%, 16/490, with 3.3% for subtype IA).

2.4. MLST

Clonal relatedness of 508 S. aureus strains was investigated by DNA fingerprinting by RAPD-PCR. A total of 112 distinctive RAPD types were identified, 71 RAPD types were at least represented by 2 strains, 41 RAPD types were only represented by one strain. The 71 RAPD types with at least 2 strains were further clustered into 13 STs by MLST (Table 3). The occurrence of ST239, ST5, ST45, ST59, and ST1 was found to be 65.5% (306/467), 9.0% (42/467), 7.5% (35/467), 5.4% (25/467), and 2.1% (10/467).

2.5. Spa Type

A total of 13 spa types were identified by spa typing (Table 3). Amongst these, t037 was the most prevalent type (38.5%, 180/467), followed by t030 (26.6%, 124/467), t1081 (14.6%, 68/467), t437 (5.8%, 27/467), and t002 (5.8%, 27/467).

3. Discussion

A remarkably high multi-drug resistance rate (88.7%) was obtained in the tested strains, with the majority as MRSA. Noteworthily, increase in trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole resistance (from 20.3% during 2009–2012 to 82.7% during 2013–2015, particularly 100% in 2014 and 2015) and a decrease in ciprofloxacin resistance (from 92.0% in 2009 to 70.8% in 2015) were obtained (Table 2). An increase in trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole resistance within S. aureus isolates had also been reported in our previous study and other reports [30,31,32,33]. A decrease in ciprofloxacin in this study was also in accordance with the previous surveillance, whereas the resistance rate of ciprofloxacin was found to be 69.2% during 2006–2010 and 44.0% in 2011–2015. Concerning the correlation between antibiotic resistance and SCCmec types, isolate type II SCCmec showed significantly lower resistance to erythromycin (8.3%) than other types (average 81.5%). Type V SCCmec (23.5%) was the least resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, followed by type II (42.9%) and type III (44.4%). Low resistance to rifampin was also identified in type II SCCmec (18.3%)
As a major human pathogen, MRSA has a number of virulence genes in its genome, which contributes to its pathogenicity. However, very few studies had touched upon the relevance between its molecular epidemiology and virulome (virulence genes profile). In S. aureus, extracellular protein toxins are major toxins that could significantly enhance its pathogenicity, including Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs), toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), exfoliative toxins (ETs) and Panton–Valentine leukocidin (PVL) [34,35]. In addition, there are a few subtypes of such toxins, especially SEs. In this study, four types of such toxins with a total of nine targets were investigated, followed by a comprehensive analysis of the relatedness. For the occurrence of virulence genes, high diversity was found in different years and subtypes. For SEs, sea, seb, and sec had been commonly detected during 2009–2015, with sea being the most prevalent type. In comparison, the identification rate of see had decreased in 2011 and 2013, but with the highest rate in 2012. While sed had only been detected in 2011 and 2012. Change in the detection of sec (rise from 8.0% in 2009 to 62.8% in 2015) and see (drop from 73.0% in 2009 to 13.2% in 2015) was also observed (Table 2). The other four virulence genes were also commonly detected during the studied period. Importantly, first emerging in 2010, the carriage of eta changed from 7.0% during 2009–2012 to 29.4% in 2015 [36]. In this study, we further performed a comprehensive analysis of the relatedness between virulence genes and other microbial traits, including antibiotic susceptibility, SCCmec, MLST, and spa types. However, no significant correlation was identified between virulence gene carriage and antibiotic susceptibility. Table 4 had comprehensively shown the relatedness between the carriage of each specific virulence gene, with SCCmec, ST types, and spa types separately. For SEs, a higher relatedness rate with type I SCCmec was found, compared with a much lower rate with hospital-associated MRSA (type II and III SCCmec), especially for seb and sed. In addition, it was found that sea showed a higher prevalence in ST239 than other SEs. For tsst and pvl, the higher occurrence was found in CA-MRSA.
Previously in Southern China, type III SCCmec was the dominant with only a few strains carrying type II SCCmec or untypeable [26,27]. However, in this study, diversity in SCCmec was obtained, with type I/IA, II, III/IIIA, IV, V, VI and IX SCCmec totaling 7 types and 2 subtypes within 490 MRSA isolates (Table 2). Despite the high occurrence of type III SCCmec, declination in hospital associated types (70.4% with 345/490 for I, II and III), increase in community-associated types (17.6% with 86/490 for IV and V), as well as diversity in detected SCCmec, had been shown in the present study. Remarkably, the five types (I, IV, V, VI and IX) and one subtype (IA) newly found in this study, had represented the first evidence of type I (mainly in Japan and Korea) and IX (the second identification after Thailand) in China. In addition, prevalence of type III had dropped from higher than 90% to 48.0%, with an increase in type II to 18.6%. Further analysis was conducted in regards with the correlation between virulence factor and SCCmec. Frequently identified in community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) strains [37], pvl was detected in only 14.9% of tested strains, of which type II (35.5%) and III (34.2% including 7.9% IIIA) SCCmec were predominant followed by type IV (19.7%), VI (3.9%) and I (2.6%). Remarkably, 24 and 12 S. aureus isolates were pvl+tsst+ and eta+etb+, respectively.
As genotyping was concerned, the strategy we used was to combine MLST and spa typing. In comparison with previous reports, higher diversity was found in this study, with 7 types and 2 subtypes of SCCmec, 13 STs, and 13 spa types identified from 490 MRSA strains within a study period of 7 years and 2 medical centers. Within STs and spa types, despite ST239 remaining as the dominant type, common SCCmec types such as ST5, ST45, and ST59 had also been frequently detected. Significantly, ST546 (2.1%, 10/467) has been first identified in Asia during 2010–2012, and the carriage rate of ST239 dropped from 76.9% in 2011 to 58.5% in 2015. For clonal complex (CC) as shown in Table 4, ST239-SCCmec II/III/IV, ST5/45-SCCmec III, ST59-SCCmec II, ST546-SCCmec II/III/IV were the prevalent types. In Southern China, ST239-SCCmec III was the only predominant MRSA clone during 2001–2006 (93.8%) and had changed to 37.7% during 2009–2015. Diversity of both SCCmec and ST were also found, with ST239-SCCmec IV, ST5-SCCmec III, ST45-SCCmec III, ST59-SCCmec II, ST1-SCCmec III, ST546-SCCmec II, III and ST546-SCCmec IV identified for the first time. In combination with SCCmec ST and spa types, ST239-SCCmec II/III-t037/t030/t1080 was the predominant MRSA clone accounting for 30% of all tested MRSA strains (Table 3).

4. Materials and Methods

4.1. Clinical Samples and Bacterial Strains

From 2009 to 2015, a total of 524 S. aureus isolates collected from First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (FAHGMU) and First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University (FAHJU) were evaluated. FAHGMU is a grade A tertiary hospital combining medical, teaching, scientific research, health care, rehabilitation, and pre-hospital emergency. It is one of the first 13 national clinical medical research centers in China. FAHJU is a tertiary-level teaching hospital with a large-scale patient population and two 2000-bed medical centers in Southern China. With the advantage of location (in the central city of Southern China) and medical capacity, patients in different areas in Southern China have therapy and treatment in FAHGMU and FAHJU. Thus, the data collected in the current study present the epidemiology of S. aureus during the contemporary period in the whole Southern China area. S. aureus isolates were maintained as glycerol stock stored at −80 °C. A small amount of S. aureus stock was spread onto tryptic soy agar (TSA) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 h to obtain single colonies. A single colony of S. aureus was transferred to 2 mL of tryptic soy broth (TSB) and incubated at 37 °C with shaking at 200 rpm overnight prior to further experiments.

4.2. Bacterial Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST)

For the clinical sample, blood agar plate (Huankai Biotech, Guangzhou, China) was used to specifically identify S. aureus strains. After acquisition of yellow/golden yellow colonies, bacterial identification on all S. aureus strains was performed to the species level according to standard procedures [38], including colony morphology, Gram staining, catalase test, Vitek-2 automated system, and PCR amplification on 16S rRNA (Staphylococcus specific) and femA (S. aureus specific) genes. Methicillin resistance was determined by PCR on mecA using primers M1 and M2. S. aureus strain ATCC29212 carrying 16S rRNA, mecA, and femA genes served as positive control. AST was conducted by Vitek-2 [39] with 10 studied antibiotics including ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, levofloxacin, linezolid, moxifloxacin, oxacillin, quinupristin, rifampin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and vancomycin. All results were interpreted according to criteria of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI 2021). Strain resistance to >2 drugs was considered to be multi-drug resistance [40].

4.3. Detection of Virulence Genes

A total of 9 virulence genes were selected to test in this study (Table 2), including 5 SEs genes (sea, seb, sec, sed and see), 2 exfoliative toxins genes (eta and etb), 1 panton-valentine leukocidin gene (pvl) and 1 toxic shock syndrome toxin gene (tsst). Genomic DNA from S. aureus strains for PCR amplification was prepared from overnight cultures according to the instruction of DNA extraction kit (Dongsheng Biotech Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China). Briefly, harvested cells were orderly treated with lysozyme and proteinase K to obtain lysates. Suspension was purified after the removal of proteins and salts etc. The highly purified DNA was strictly stored at −20 °C. A total of 9 virulence genes were detected by PCR in all S. aureus strains, with tested genes encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEA, SEB, SEC, SED and SEE), exfoliative toxins (ETA and ETB), Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST) [36,41]. All PCR assays were performed in triplicate using the primers listed in Table 5 as described previously [42,43,44]. PCR amplification was performed in a volume of 50 µL with 2× PCR Master Mix (Dongsheng Biotech Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China). The DNA Thermal Cycler EDC-810 (Eastwin Biotech Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) was programmed as follows: the first denaturation at 94 °C for 5 min, denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, annealing at respective temperature listed in Table 5 for 30 s, and an extension at 72 °C for 90 s for 30 cycles and at last the final extension at 72 °C for 7 min. Three positive strains for each virulence gene were adapted to Sanger sequencing to confirm the accuracy of the amplicons. Strains with correct amplicons were subsequently used as positive controls.

4.4. SCCmec Typing

A multiplex PCR strategy is the most available method for SCCmec typing, and it can be used to study the evolution of MRSA [45]. Different SCCmec types were determined by specific primers listed in Table 5. PCR amplification was performed in a volume of 50 µL with 2× PCR Master Mix (Dongsheng Biotech Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China). The DNA Thermal Cycler EDC-810 (Eastwin Biotech Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) was programmed as follows: the first denaturation at 94 °C for 5 min, denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, annealing at respective temperature listed in Table 5 for 30 s, and an extension at 72 °C for 90 s for 30 cycles and at last the final extension at 72 °C for 7 min. PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel. S. aureus strains 10442 (carrying ccr1 and IS1272-mecA), N315 (carrying ccr2 and mecI-mecR1), JP25 (carrying ccr3), and WIS (carrying IS431-mecI-mecA) were served as positive controls.

4.5. DNA Fingerprinting Analysis by RAPD-PCR

Random primers AP1, AP7 and ERIC2 (Table 5) [46,47] were applied for RAPD-PCR assay [48]. PCR amplification was performed in a volume of 50 µL with 2× Taq PCR Master Mix (Dongsheng Biotech Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China). Components for RAPD-PCR including 2× Taq PCR Master Mix 25 µL, primer 3 µL, DNA template 1 µL and ddH2O 21 µL. RAPD-PCR program was as follows: 94 °C for 5 min; followed by 94 °C 1 min, 38 °C 1 min, 72 °C 2 min for 8 cycles, and 94 °C 1 min, 38 °C 1 min, 72 °C 2 min for 25 cycles; 72 °C 7 min. PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel.

4.6. MLST

Strains adapted for MLST and spa typing [20,49,50,51]. MLST was performed by amplification of the internal region of seven housekeeping genes, including arc, aroE, glpF, gmk, pta, tpi, and yqiL. The amplicons were 456, 456, 465, 417, 474, 402, and 516 bp, respectively. The PCR products were sequenced with ABI Prism 377 DNA Sequencer (PE Applied Biosystems, USA) and compared with the existing sequences available in the MLST website (http://www.pubmlst.org, accessed on 1 November 2022) for S. aureus, and the allelic number was determined for each sequence. The sequence type (ST) was determined according to the pattern of the combination of the seven alleles, and the clonal complex (CC) was defined by the BURST (based upon related sequence types) program v3.0 by accessing the MLST website.

4.7. Spa Typing

Protein A, which is encoded by spa gene, is a surface protein originally found in the cell wall of S. aureus and it has been used in biochemical research because of its ability to bind immunoglobulins. According to the number, characteristics, and arrangement of repeated sequences in X region, which is a highly repeated sequence in protein A, the spa typing can reliably and accurately present the polymorphism of S. aureus [52]. PCR amplification targeting spa gene with primers spa-Up and spa-Dn (Table 5) was performed for spa typing. The PCR was programmed as follows: the first denaturation at 94 °C for 5 min, denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, annealing at 60 °C for 45 s, and an extension at 72 °C for 90 s for 30 cycles, and at last the final extension at 72 °C for 10 min. PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel. Purified amplicons were sequenced with ABI Prism 377 DNA Sequencer (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) and repetitive sequences were collected to align to Ridom spa-server (https://spaserver.ridom.de/) (accessed on 4 October 2017) in which 16150 spa types, 709 repeats, and 350761 strains are available.

4.8. Statistical Analysis

In this study, antimicrobial susceptibility results and organization were managed in WHONET (version 5.6) (Boston, MA, USA). The chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was applied in the correlation analyses, if appropriate. A p value < 0.05 was defined as statistically significant.

5. Conclusions

In conclusion, this study has provided comprehensive knowledge on the correlation among antimicrobial resistance, SCCmec, ST, and spa types from a large scale of clinical S. aureus during a lengthy period. An increase in the resistance to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was identified. A total of nine SCCmec types and subtypes, thirteen STs clustered into thirteen spa types were identified, with ST239-SCCmec III-t037 presenting the predominant MRSA clone. Typically, SCCmec type IX and ST546 were emergent types in China. Isolates positive for both pvl and tsst genes and for both eta and etb genes were also identified. The results yielded from this study will aid in further surveillance of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary discrepancy on MRSA.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Z.X.; methodology, J.L. and T.H.; validation, T.S. and J.M.; formal analysis, D.C.; investigation, C.Y.; resources, G.Y. and L.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, J.L.; writing—review and editing, J.L.; supervision, Z.X.; funding acquisition, Z.X. and J.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32202199), Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2020B0301030005), Guangdong International S&T Cooperation Programme (2022A0505070001), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation Natural Science Foundation (Zhenbo Xu), Young S&T Talent Training Program of Guangdong Provincial Association for S&T, China (SKXRC202207), Young Talent Support Project of Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology (QT20220101076), Guangdong Province Key Construction Discipline Research Ability Improvement Project (2021ZDJS005), Guangdong Provincial Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation and Extension Project in 2021 (No. 2021KJ101), Collaborative grant with AEIC (KEO-2019-0624-001-1).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Table 1. Distribution of S. aureus isolated from different clinical samples.
Table 1. Distribution of S. aureus isolated from different clinical samples.
Isolation SourceStrain AmountPercentage *
DepartmentInternal medicine15830.15%
ICU428.02%
Orthopedic529.92%
urology478.97%
Neurology377.06%
Surgery326.11%
Pediatrics163.05%
Obstetrics and Gynecology40.76%
Other13625.95%
Infection siteSputum26951.34%
Pus397.44%
Urinary tract377.06%
Bloodstream295.53%
Wound275.15%
Respiratory tract101.91%
Other11321.56%
AgeThe old27251.91%
The young and the middle-aged21741.41%
Infant356.68%
* The percentage was calculated by the amount of strains in each isolation source divided by the total amount of strains. There is overlap among isolation sources in the department, infection site, and age.
Table 2. Antimicrobial susceptibility, carriage of virulence genes, and SCCmec types of S. aureus isolates.
Table 2. Antimicrobial susceptibility, carriage of virulence genes, and SCCmec types of S. aureus isolates.
2009 (n = 25)2010 (n = 23)2011 (n = 104)2012 (n = 115)2013 (n = 81)2014 (n = 121)2015 (n = 51)Total
SCCmec *I000131712
IA00013127
II1 a2 ab18 a24 a16 a21 a9 a91
III18 d12 f54 a53 b16 e29 c8 f190
IIIA1 b0 b9 a6 b7 ab15 a7 a45
IV2 b4 b8 b12 b15 a20 a7 b68
V0 b0 b1 b9 a4 ab3 ab1 ab18
VI1 b0 b4 b1 b7 a12 a6 a31
Others0001614324
Toxins *sea21 b22 b73 a71 a56 a79 a30 a352
seb9 d3 e28 c32 c37 b39 a23 d171
sec2 b5 b22 b52 a47 a62 a32 a222
sed0 b0 b2 b8 a0 b0 b0 b10
see14 d17 b53 a49 a2 e16 c11 e186
eta0 c1 c8 c9 c15 b31 a15 b79
etb3 c9 b16 a13 a1 c6 c1 c49
pvl2 d13 b25 a21 a3 d2 d10 c76
tsst0 e7 d8 d17 d43 a41 b30 c146
Antibiotic resistance #oxacillin10 b19 b96 a103 a68 b93 b45 b434
trimethoprim/
sulfamethoxazole
3 c11 c8 c14 c34 b109 a48 b227
erythromycin23 a23 a90 a90 a49 a87 a39 a401
ciprofloxacin23 c21 c87 a91 a54 b78 b34 b388
rifampin14 c9 d27 b30 b40 a33 b12 d165
moxifloxacin23 b15 c71 a81 a53 a76 a34 a353
penicillin20 c21 c78 a69 a46 b64 a30 b328
tetracycline17 d12 d81 a37 b36 c68 b35 d286
levofloxacin6 b12 b87 a91 a53 b78 b34 b361
clindamycin17 e23 d86 a71 b43 c66 c29 c335
* The amount of S. aureus isolates identified to be positive for each SCCmec types (I, IA, II, III, IIIA, IV, V, VI, and Others) and virulence factors (sea, seb, sec, sed, see, eta, etb, pvl, and tsst) in each year were listed, with total amount of isolates in the rightmost column. # The amount of S. aureus isolates resistance to each antibiotic (oxacillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, rifampin, moxifloxacin, penicillin, tetracycline, levofloxacin, and clindamycin) in each year were listed. The data were adapted to chi-square test between years and the superscripted “abcde” in the table is the significant difference letter marking method. (Arrange all the averages from large to small, label the largest average with the letter “a”, subtract that average from the following to obtain the range, and label any range less than 0.05 with the letter “a”, until the range is greater than or equal to 0.05, or a significant difference from an average, the average is superscript with the letter “b”, and the average labeled “b” is used as the criterion, compared with the above average which is larger than it, any difference which is not significant is marked with the letter “b”, and the maximum average marked with “b” is used as the standard, compared with the unmarked average below, those that are not significantly different continue to be labeled with the letter “b” until an average that is significantly different is labeled with the letter “c”. The comparisons are repeated until the smallest average has a marked letter).
Table 3. Genotypes of S. aureus isolated.
Table 3. Genotypes of S. aureus isolated.
Genotypes2009201020112012201320142015Total
ST239-t03711660429103141
ST239-t03053161315261593
ST239-t10814241122025
ST59-t437104622015
ST5-t00200520209
ST546-t1081043300010
ST45-t108110520008
ST1-t408400001708
ST5-t03001150007
ST5-t108400000156
ST45-t03700121116
ST1357-t03000000516
ST188-t636700004105
ST2139-t18900000224
ST238-t03000003104
ST366-t43700000224
ST5-t03700120003
ST585-t03000000202
ST188-t18900001102
ST1-t11400000202
ST1057-t00200000112
Others37426394419142
The amount of S. aureus isolates identified in each genotype (MLST-spa) in each year were listed.
Table 4. Relatedness among SCCmec, virulence, and genotypes of clinical S. aureus.
Table 4. Relatedness among SCCmec, virulence, and genotypes of clinical S. aureus.
Virulence Associated Genes
SeaSebSecSedSeeetaetbtsstpvl
SCCmecI/IA17 */19 #89.5% a17/1989.5% a12/1963.2% a12/1963.2% a13/1968.4% a12/1963.2% a7/1936.8% a0/190.0% b5/1926.3% ab
II54/9159.3% c28/9130.8% b58/9163.7% a2/912.2% b21/9123.1% c11/8812.5% b11/8812.5% b26/8829.5% a28/8831.8% a
III/IIIA181/23776.4% b69/23729.1% b77/23732.5% b6/2372.5% b121/23751.1% b39/23616.5% b21/2368.9% b26/23611.0% b49/23620.8% b
IV45/6866.2% bc27/6839.7% b37/6854.4% a2/682.9% b16/6823.5% c12/6817.6% b5/687.4% b14/6820.6% a29/6842.6% a
V11/1861.1% bc4/1822.2% b5/1827.8% b0/180.0% b2/1811.1% cd1/175.9% b3/1717.6% b0/170.0% b4/1723.5% ab
VI15/3148.4% c7/3122.6% b10/3132.3% b0/310.0% b2/316.5% d3/319.7% b5/3116.1% b3/319.7% b9/3129.0% a
ST typesST239222/30572.8% a86/30528.2% b107/30535.1% a4/3051.3% b140/30545.9% b40/30113.3% b35/30111.6% ab47/30115.6% b69/30122.9% b
ST520/4247.6% a14/4233.3% ab20/4247.6% a2/424.8% ab10/4223.8% c6/4015.0% ab1/402.5% b10/4025.0% b6/4015.0% b
ST4527/3577.1% a13/3537.1% ab11/3531.4% a1/352.9% ab9/3525.7% c5/3315.2% ab6/3318.2% a3/339.1% b10/3330.3% ab
ST5911/2544.0% a11/2544.0% ab15/2560.0% a3/2512.0% a7/2528.0% bc4/2416.7% ab2/248.3% ab3/2412.5% b10/2441.7% a
ST5468/1080.0% a3/1030.0% ab5/1050.0% a0/100.0% b8/1080.0% a0/100.0% b2/1020.0% a6/1060.0% a2/1020.0% b
ST3665/862.5% a0/80.0% b5/862.5% a0/80.0% b0/80.0% c2/825.0% ab0/80.0% b1/812.5% b5/862.5% a
ST16/1060.0% a6/1060.0% a3/1030.0% a0/100.0% b1/1010.0% c4/1040.0% a0/100.0% b0/100.0% b4/1040.0% ab
ST1884/944.4% a6/966.7% a4/944.4% a0/90.0% b1/911.1% c0/90.0% b1/911.1% ab1/911.1% b4/944.4% a
spa typest03081/12465.3% b33/12426.6% a56/12445.2% ab1/1240.8% b36/12429.0% b23/12119.0% a5/1214.1% b9/1217.4% b29/12124.0% ab
t037131/17973.2% ab55/17930.7% a55/17930.7% b2/1791.1% b96/17953.6% a17/1779.6% b24/17713.6% a32/17718.1% a38/17721.5% b
t43714/2751.9% b8/2729.6% a12/2744.4% ab1/273.7% ab5/2718.5% ab2/277.4% b1/273.7% b8/2729.6% a4/2714.8% b
t108155/6880.9% a18/6826.5% a23/6833.8% b3/684.4% ab30/6844.1% a8/6512.3% ab14/6521.5% a16/6524.6% a17/6526.2% ab
t00213/2748.1% b9/2733.3% a16/2759.3% a3/2711.1% a6/2722.2% b6/2722.2% a2/277.4% ab4/2714.8% ab11/2740.7% a
* The numbers represent the amount of strains positive for each virulence associated gene (sea, seb, sec, sed, see, eta, etb, pvl, and tsst) in the first line and the genotypes (SCCmec, ST type, spa type) at the first column. # The numbers represent the total amount of strains in each SCCmec (I, IA, II, III, IIIA, IV, V, VI, and Others), ST (ST239, ST5, ST45, ST59, ST546, ST366, ST1, ST188) or spa (t030, t037, t437, t1081,t002) type. The data were adapted to chi-square test and the superscripted “abcd” in the table is the significant difference letter marking method analysis result.
Table 5. Primers used in this study.
Table 5. Primers used in this study.
Primer NameSequence (5′-3′)TargetAmplicon (bp)Tm
(°C)
C1GATGAGTGCTAAGTGTTAGG16S rRNA54255
C2TCTACGATTACTAGCGATTC
F1AAAGCTTGCTGAAGGTTATGfemA823
F2TTCTTCTTGTAGACGTTTAC
M1GGCATCGTTCCAAAGAATGTmecA374
M2CCATCTTCATGTTGGAGCTTT
O1ACCACAATCMACAGTCATorf-X21248
O2CCCGCATCATTTGATGTG
ccrBATTGCCTTGATAATAGCCITCTccrAB170048
ccrA1AACCTATATCATCAATCAGTACGT
ccrBATTGCCTTGATAATAGCCITCTccrAB21000
ccrA2TAAAGGCATCAATGCACAAACACT
ccrBATTGCCTTGATAATAGCCITCTccrAB31600
ccrA3AGCTCAAAAGCAAGCAATAGAAT
ccrA4-FATGGGATAAGAGAAAAAGCCccrAB41400
ccrB4-RTAATTTACCTTCGTTGGCAT
ccrC-FATGAATTCAAAGAGCATGGCccrC520
ccrC-RGATTTAGAATTGTCGTGATTGC
mI4CAAGTGAATTGAAACCGCCTmecI-mecR1180050
mcR3GTCTCCACGTTAATTCCATT
IS5AACGCCACTCATAACATATGGAAIS1272-mecA200052
mA6TATACCAAACCCGACAAC
mA2AACGTTGTAACCACCCCAAGAIS431-mecI-mecA200053
IS2TGAGGTTATTCAGATATTTCGATGT
IS431-P4CAGGTCTCTTCAGATCTACGpUB11038155
pUB110 R1GAGCCATAAACACCAATAGCC
IS431-P4CAGGTCTCTTCAGATCTACGpT18130352
PT181 R1GAAGAATGGGGAAAGCTTCAC
AP1GGTTGGGTGAGAATTGCACG Random38
AP7GTGGATGCGA45
ERIC2AAGTAAGTGACTGGGGTGAGCG45
arcC-UpTTGATTCACCAGCGCGTATTGTCarcC45655
arcC-DnAGGTATCTGCTTCAATCAGCG
aroE-UpATCGGAAATCCTATTTCACATTCaroE45655
aroE-DnGGTGTTGTATTAATAACGATATC
glpF-UpCTAGGAACTGCAATCTTAATCCglpF46555
glpF-DnTGGTAAAATCGCATGTCCAATTC
gmk-UpATCGTTTTATCGGGACCATCgmk41755
gmk-DnTCATTAACTACAACGTAATCGTA
pta-UpGTTAAAATCGTATTACCTGAAGGpta47455
pta-DnGACCCTTTTGTTGAAAAGCTTAA
tpi-UpTCGTTCATTCTGAACGTCGTGAAtpi40255
tpi-DnTTTGCACCTTCTAACAATTGTAC
yqiL-UpCAGCATACAGGACACCTATTGGCyqiL51655
yqiL-DnCGTTGAGGAATCGATACTGGAAC
spa-UpGTAAAACGACGGCCAGTGCTAAAAAGCTAAACGATGCspa26060
spa-DnCAGGAAACAGCTATGACCCCACCAAATACAGTTGTACC
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Liu, J.; Huang, T.; Soteyome, T.; Miao, J.; Yu, G.; Chen, D.; Ye, C.; Yang, L.; Xu, Z. Antimicrobial Resistance, SCCmec, Virulence and Genotypes of MRSA in Southern China for 7 Years: Filling the Gap of Molecular Epidemiology. Antibiotics 2023, 12, 368. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12020368

AMA Style

Liu J, Huang T, Soteyome T, Miao J, Yu G, Chen D, Ye C, Yang L, Xu Z. Antimicrobial Resistance, SCCmec, Virulence and Genotypes of MRSA in Southern China for 7 Years: Filling the Gap of Molecular Epidemiology. Antibiotics. 2023; 12(2):368. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12020368

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Liu, Junyan, Tengyi Huang, Thanapop Soteyome, Jian Miao, Guangchao Yu, Dingqiang Chen, Congxiu Ye, Ling Yang, and Zhenbo Xu. 2023. "Antimicrobial Resistance, SCCmec, Virulence and Genotypes of MRSA in Southern China for 7 Years: Filling the Gap of Molecular Epidemiology" Antibiotics 12, no. 2: 368. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12020368

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