Identification of multiresistance gene cfr in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from pigs: plasmid location and integration into a staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec complex

Abstract

The multiresistance gene cfr was found in 8/231 porcine methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates. They were characterized by multilocus sequence typing, spa typing, dru typing, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing as ST627-t002-dt12w-IVb, ST6-t304-dt12w-IVb, ST9-t899-dt12w-IVb, ST9-t899-dt12ae-IVb, or ST63-t899-dt12v-IVb. Different cfr gene regions were detected on plasmids of ca. 35 kb in seven isolates. For the first time, an ISEnfa4-cfr-IS256 fragment was found to be inserted upstream of the ccr genes in a chromosomal SCCmec IVb element of the remaining isolate.