Hybrid assembly of multi-drug resistant, highly virulent methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST772-SCCmec V lineage: Maximising its potential for dissemination similar to USA300 clone

Abstract

• ST772-SCC mec V is a multi-drug resistant and highly virulent MRSA lineage. • The complete genome of VB9352 (ST772-SCC mec V) S. aureus genome was generated using hybrid assembly of ion Torrent reads overlayed with the long reads of minIon. • The complete genome analysis showed the presence of mosaic integrated resistance plasmid (IRP) element contained loci for beta-lactam resistance operon ( bla Z, bla I, bla R), aminoglycosides resistance ( aph A3- sat - aad E), macrolide resistance ( msrA , mphC ), and bacitracin resistant genes ( bcr A/B). • A prophage Φ-IND772PVL co-carrying PVL and sea was also identified. • In the isolate VB9352, three distinct pathogenicity islands were identified. This includes vSaα carrying both toxins and superantigens, vSaβ carrying enterotoxin gene cluster ( egc ) and vSaγ containing super-antigen like protein, alpha hemolysin and exfoliative ( eta ) toxin.