First Report of a Methicillin-Resistant, High-Level Mupirocin-Resistant Staphylococcus argenteus.

Adebayo Osagie Shittu,Stefan Bletz,Franziska Layer-Nicolaou,Alexander Mellmann,Birgit Strommenger,Minh-Thu Nguyen,Frieder Schaumburg

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2022.860163

Abstract

We describe the identification of a methicillin-resistant, high-level mupirocin-resistant Staphylococcus argenteus. The isolate (1801221) was characterized as t6675-ST2250-SCCmecIVc, and whole-genome sequencing revealed that the isolate possessed two plasmids. One plasmid (34,870 bp), designated p1_1801221 with rep23, harboured the mupirocin resistance (mupA) gene. The second plasmid (20,644 bp), assigned as p2_1801221 with rep5a and rep16, carried the resistance determinants for penicillin (blaZ) and cadmium (cadD). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolate clustered with the European ST2250 lineage. The overall high similarity of both plasmids in S. argenteus with published DNA sequences of Staphylococcus aureus plasmids strongly suggests an interspecies transfer. The pathogenic potential, community and nosocomial spread, and acquisition of antibiotic resistance gene determinants, including the mupA gene by S. argenteus, highlight its clinical significance and the need for its correct identification.

Highlights

Staphylococcus argenteus and S. schweitzeri, with S. roterodami and S. singaporensis, are recently designated species and assigned to the Staphylococcus aureus-related complex (Tong et al, 2015; Chew et al, 2021; Schutte et al, 2021)
We describe the first report of a methicillinresistant S. argenteus that exhibited HmupR
Methicillin and mupirocin resistance was confirmed by PCR detection of mecA (Murakami et al, 1991) and mupA (Nagant et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Staphylococcus argenteus and S. schweitzeri, with S. roterodami and S. singaporensis, are recently designated species and assigned to the Staphylococcus aureus-related complex (Tong et al, 2015; Chew et al, 2021; Schutte et al, 2021). A Neighbor-Joining (NJ) tree was constructed using sequences of a global collection of 111 S. argenteus (ST2250) isolates. The isolate (1801221) was obtained in April 2018 from a human nasal swab and was previously identified as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with HmupR.

Results

Conclusion