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Presence of cna, emp and pls genes and pathogenicity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains

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Abstract

Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are important etiological factors responsible for hospital-acquired infections. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the presence of emp, pls and cna genes on the pathogenicity of MRSA strains. The presence of these genes was tested by PCR in 302 MRSA strains isolated from hospitalized patients and from carriers. For each tested gene, proportions of positive and negative strains were similar among the infected patients and carriers. We did not find any obvious correlation between the presence of the three tested genes and the infectivity of strains. Our results may also suggest that a lack of emp and presence of pls may correlate with reduced virulence of these strains.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Muzaffar Hussain (Westfälische-Universität Münster) and Pentti Kuusela and Katri Savolainen (Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Haartman Institute) for reference strains of S. aureus. We thank Joanna Potrykus for critical reading of the manuscript. Technical assistance of workers of Provincial Hospital in Gdańsk is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Division of Molecular Diagnostics, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Kładki 24, Gdansk, 80-822, Poland

    Julianna Kurlenda & Mariusz Grinholc

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, University of Gdańsk, Kładki 24, 80-822, Gdansk, Poland

    Grzegorz Węgrzyn

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  1. Julianna Kurlenda
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  2. Mariusz Grinholc
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  3. Grzegorz Węgrzyn
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Correspondence to Mariusz Grinholc.

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Kurlenda, J., Grinholc, M. & Węgrzyn, G. Presence of cna, emp and pls genes and pathogenicity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24, 591–594 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-007-9511-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-007-9511-7

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