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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Methodology for the Study of Horizontal Gene Transfer in Staphylococcus aureus
Published on: March 10, 2017
Increase in IS256 transposition in invasive vancomycin heteroresistant Staphylococcus aureus isolate belonging to
Sabrina Di Gregorio1, Silvina Fernandez1, Beatriz Perazzi2
1Cátedra de Microbiología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CABA, Argentina.
Abstract:
In Staphylococcus aureus, transposition of IS256 has been described to play an important role in biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. This study describes the molecular characterization of two clinical heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA) isolates recovered from the same patient (before and after antibiotic treatment) and two VISA derivatives obtained by serial passages in the presence of vancomycin. Our results showed that antibiotic treatment (in vivo and in vitro) could enhance IS256 transposition, being responsible for the eventual loss of agr function. As far as we know this is the first study that reports the increase of IS256 transposition in isogenic strains after antibiotic treatment in a clinical setting.
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