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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Genotyping of Staphylococcus aureus by Ribosomal Spacer PCR RS-PCR
Published on: November 4, 2016
Phenotypic and genomic comparisons of highly vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains developed from
Kenichi Ishii1, Fumiaki Tabuchi1, Miki Matsuo2
1Laboratory of Microbiology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
The development of vancomycin (VCM) resistance in Staphylococcus aureus threatens global health. Studies of the VCM-resistance mechanism and alternative therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. We mutagenized S. aureus laboratory strains and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with ethyl methanesulfonate, and isolated mutants that exhibited high resistance to VCM (minimum inhibitory concentration = 32 μg/ml). These VCM-resistant strains were sensitive to linezolid and rifampicin, and partly to arbekacin and daptomycin. Beta-lactams had synergistic effects with VCM against these mutants. VCM-resistant strains exhibited a 2-fold increase in the cell wall thickness. Several genes were commonly mutated among the highly VCM-resistant mutants. These findings suggest that MRSA has a potential to develop high VCM resistance with cell wall thickening by the accumulation of mutations.
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