Shared antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in Staphylococcus aureus from diverse animal hosts.

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses an important threat in human and animal health. In this study, we ask whether resistance and virulence genes in S. aureus are homogeneously distributed or constrained by different animal hosts. We carried out whole genome sequencing of 114 S. aureus isolates from ten species of animals sampled from four New England states (USA) in 2017–2019. The majority of the isolates came from cats, cows and dogs. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on the alignment of 89,143 single nucleotide polymorphisms of 1173 core genes reveal 31 sequence types (STs). The most common STs were ST5, ST8, ST30, ST133 and ST2187. Every genome carried at least eight acquired resistance genes. Genes related to resistance found in all genomes included norA (fluoroquinolone), arlRS (fluoroquinolone), lmrS (multidrug), tet(38) (tetracycline) and mepAR (multidrug and tigecycline resistance). The most common superantigen genes were tsst-1, sea and sec. Acquired antibiotic resistance (n = 10) and superantigen (n = 9) genes of S. aureus were widely shared between S. aureus lineages and between strains from different animal hosts. These analyses provide insights for considering bacterial gene sharing when developing strategies to combat the emergence of high-risk clones in animals.

耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）的出现对人类和动物健康构成重大威胁。在这项研究中，我们探讨金黄色葡萄球菌中的耐药基因和毒力基因是均匀分布的，还是受到不同动物宿主的限制。我们对2017 - 2019年从美国新英格兰四个州采集的十种动物的114株金黄色葡萄球菌进行了全基因组测序。大多数分离株来自猫、牛和狗。基于1173个核心基因的89143个单核苷酸多态性比对构建的最大似然系统发育树显示出31种序列类型（STs）。最常见的STs是ST5、ST8、ST30、ST133和ST2187。每个基因组至少携带8个获得性耐药基因。在所有基因组中发现的与耐药相关的基因包括norA（氟喹诺酮）、arlRS（氟喹诺酮）、lmrS（多药）、tet(38)（四环素）和mepAR（多药及替加环素耐药）。最常见的超抗原基因是tsst - 1、sea和sec。金黄色葡萄球菌的获得性抗生素耐药基因（n = 10）和超抗原基因（n = 9）在金黄色葡萄球菌谱系之间以及来自不同动物宿主的菌株之间广泛共享。这些分析为在制定应对动物中高危克隆出现的策略时考虑细菌基因共享提供了见解。