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Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU)

Publish Date: 20 Jul 2024

Genomic insights of a methicillin-resistant biofilm-producing Staphylococcus aureus strain isolated from food handlers

Dr. Md Tanvir Rahman

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  • Ballah, F.M., Hoque, M.N., Islam, M.S., Faisal , G.W., Rahman, AMMT., Khatun, M.M.,Rahman, M., Hssan, J., and Rahman, M.T. (2024). Genomic insights of a methicillin-resistant biofilm-producing Staphylococcus aureus strain isolated from food handlers. BioMed Research International. Volume 2024, Article ID 5516117,  Download  IF 2.5

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important zoonotic pathogen associated with a wide range of infectionsin humans and animals. Thus, the emergence of MRSA clones poses an important threat to human and animal health. This studyis aimed at elucidating the genomics insights of a strong biofilm-producing and multidrug-resistant (MDR) S. aureus MTR_BAU_H1 strain through whole-genome sequencing (WGS). The S. aureus MTR_BAU_H1 strain was isolated from food handlers’ handswabs in Bangladesh and phenotypically assessed for antimicrobial susceptibility and biofilm production assays. The isolate wasfurther undergone to high throughput WGS and analysed using different bioinformatics tools to elucidate the genetic diversity,molecular epidemiology, sequence type (ST), antimicrobial resistance, and virulence gene distribution. Phenotypic analysesrevealed that the S. aureus MTR_BAU_H1 strain is a strong biofilm-former and carries both antimicrobial resistance (e.g.,methicillin resistance; mecA, beta-lactam resistance; blaZ and tetracycline resistance; tetC) and virulence (e.g., sea, tsst, andPVL) genes. The genome of the S. aureus MTR_BAU_H1 belonged to ST1930 that possessed three plasmid replicons (e.g.,rep16, rep7c, and rep19), seven prophages, and two clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)arrays of varying sizes. Phylogenetic analysis showed a close evolutionary relationship between the MTR_BAU_H1 genomeand other MRSA clones of diverse hosts and demographics. The MTR_BAU_H1 genome harbours 42 antimicrobialresistance genes (ARGs), 128 virulence genes, and 273 SEED subsystems coding for the metabolism of amino acids,carbohydrates, proteins, cofactors, vitamins, minerals, and lipids. This is the first-ever WGS-based study of a strongbiofilm-producing and MDR S. aureus strain isolated from human hand swabs in Bangladesh that unveils new informationon the resistomes (ARGs and correlated mechanisms) and virulence potentials that might be linked to staphylococcalpathogenesis in both humans and animals

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