Development of Methicillin Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Staphylococcus sciuri by Transcriptional Activation of the mecA Homologue Native to the Species

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Abstract
The β-lactam resistance gene mecA was acquired by Staphylococcus aureus from an extraspecies source. The search for the possible origin of this gene has led to the identification of a close structural homologue of mecA as a native gene in the animal species Staphylococcus sciuri. Surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of S. sciuri isolates were fully susceptible to β-lactam antibiotics in spite of the ubiquitous presence of the mecA homologue in the bacteria. We now describe two unusual S. sciuri strains isolated from humans—SS-37 and SS-41—that showed resistance to methicillin associated with high rates of transcription of the mecA homologue and production of a protein resembling penicillin binding protein 2a, the gene product of S. aureus mecA . In strain SS-37 increased transcription of the mecA homologue was related to insertion of an IS 256 element upstream of the structural gene, and strain SS-41 had single nucleotide alterations in the promoter region of the mecA homologue which appear to be related to up-regulation of the rate of transcription. A third methicillin-resistant human isolate of S. sciuri that carries both the native mecA homologue and a methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) type mecA , strain K3, was now shown to be unstable in the absence of drug selection, causing the segregation of antibiotic-susceptible cells accompanied by the loss of the MRSA type mecA . These observations illustrate the remarkable variety of strategies available to bacteria for acquiring mechanisms of drug resistance in the in vivo environment.