Related Experiment Videos
Origin and evolution of DNA associated with resistance to methicillin in staphylococci
1Dept of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond 23298-0049.
Trends in Microbiology
|October 1, 1994
Abstract:
The gene mediating resistance to methicillin in staphylococci (mecA) and its flanking sequences (mec DNA) make up a chromosomal DNA locus that is unique to methicillin-resistant bacteria; no equivalent locus exists in methicillin-susceptible cells. The origin of mec DNA is not known, but evidence supports horizontal transfer of mec DNA between different staphylococcal species and of the mecA gene between different Gram-positive genera.