jRecently, a novel variant of mecA known as mecC (mecA LGA251 ) was identified in Staphylococcus aureus isolates from both humans and animals. In this study, we identified a Staphylococcus xylosus isolate that harbors a new allotype of the mecC gene, mecC1. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that mecC1 forms part of a class E mec complex (mecI-mecR1-mecC1-blaZ) located at the orfX locus as part of a likely staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element (SCCmec) remnant, which also contains a number of other genes present on the type XI SCCmec.
Methicillin resistance in staphylococci is encoded by mecA, encoding the penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a), which has a low affinity for beta-lactam antibiotics (1). As a result, the transpeptidase activity of PBP2a is functional at normally inhibitory concentrations of beta-lactam antibiotics, allowing cell wall synthesis to occur (2-4). Recently, a novel variant of mecA was identified in Staphylococcus aureus from cattle (5), humans, and a range of other animal species (6) in Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom (5, 7-11). This subtype was originally designated mecA LGA251 but has since been renamed mecC and shares 70% nucleotide identity with the conventional mecA gene. The mecC gene is present with its cognate regulators mecI-mecR1, as part of a class E mec complex that shares structural similarity (mecI-mecR1-mecC-blaZ) with a mec gene complex found in Macrococcus caseolyticus (12). The class E complex is present as part of a larger, 29.4-kb, type XI staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element (SCCmec) inserted at orfX; this element also includes the recombinase genes ccrAB and arsenic resistance genes. In this work, we describe a highly related mecC homolog present in the orfX locus in a Staphylococcus xylosus.A search of the EMBL nucleotide database identified submission of sequences from S. xylosus strain S04009 (13) with a high degree of similarity (Ͼ90%) to mecC (5, 8). However, antimicrobial susceptibility testing of strain S04009 by disk diffusion with oxacillin and cefoxitin showed it to be susceptible to both antibiotics but resistant to penicillin using British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) criteria (version 10.2) (data not shown). Therefore, we submitted the mecC-positive strain S04009 and a mecC-negative S. xylosus isolate, S040010, for whole-genome sequencing to further characterize the mecC-containing region. Illumina library preparation was carried out as described by Quail et al. (14), and HiSeq sequencing was carried out following the manufacturer's standard protocols (Illumina, Inc.). Genome sequencing confirmed the presence of a mecC homolog in S04009 located downstream of the S. xylosus orfX homolog, a region associated with horizontally transferred elements (Fig. 1). Immediately downstream of orfX in S04009 is a 3.3-kb region that shows a high degree of similarity (Ͼ95% nucleotide identity) to the 3= end of the arginine catabolic mobile element (ACME) in the S. aureus USA300 strai...