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- Title
Comparative Analysis of Virulence and Toxin Expression of Global Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains.
- Authors
Min Li; Cheung, Gordon Y. C.; Jinhui Hu; Decheng Wang; Hwang-Soo Joo; DeLeo, Frank R.; Otto, Michael
- Abstract
The current pandemic of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) skin infections is caused by several genetically unrelated clones. Here, we analyzed virulence of globally occurring CA-MRSA strains in a rabbit skin infection model. We used rabbits because neutrophils from this animal species have relatively high sensitivity to Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), a toxin epidemiologically correlated with many CA-MRSA infections. Virulence in the rabbit model correlated with in vitro neutrophil lysis and transcript levels of phenol-soluble modulin a and a-toxin, but not PVL genes. Furthermore, abscesses caused by USA300 and its PVL-negative progenitor USA500 were comparatively large and similar in size, suggesting that PVL has played a limited role in the evolution of USA300 virulence in the context of skin infections. Our study indicates a major but not exclusive impact of virulence on the epidemiological success of USA300 and other CA-MRSA strains and emphasizes the importance of core genome-encoded toxins in CA-MRSA skin infections.
- Publication
Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2010, Vol 202, Issue 12, p1866
- ISSN
0022-1899
- Publication type
Academic Journal
- DOI
10.1086/657419