Pathogenic Staphylococci: Lessons from Comparative Genomics

Success through diversity – How Staphylococcus epidermidis establishes as a nosocomial pathogen

“…Thus, in a disease-associated S. epidermidis strain, spontaneous IS256-mediated chromosomal deletions occur which encompass, amongst many metabolic genes, the ica operon and large parts of SCCmec (Ziebuhr et al, unpublished data). S. epidermidis genome analyses indicate that both the ica genes and SCCmec elements are colocated in a region of high recombination in the oriC environ of the chromosome suggesting a joint genetic instability of these traits (Ohlsen et al, 2006). Switches in biofilm mode as well as spontaneous deletions of SCCmec elements along with biofilm genes were also detected in the course of an infection as we were recently able to monitor such deletions in patient isolates recovered from a fatal case of S. epidermidis septicaemia (Weisser et al, 2008).…”