Expression of a clone specific DNA sequence from Staphylococcus aureus in Escherichia coli

Staphylococcus aureus produces a large number of factors thought to contribute to virulence, although the precise role of some of these individual factors is not clearly defined. To investigate whether specific virulence factors might be responsible for the selection and dominance of certain genotypes of methicillin- and multiply resistant S. aureus (MRSA), the method of subtractive hybridisation was used to identify conserved DNA sequences associated with the clinical, clonal populations of S. aureus. The findings described in this report indicate that the method of subtractive hybridisation is a valuable tool to identify clone specific virulence factors, which might be of potential as diagnostic markers and as alternative vaccine targets.