An 11-year linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus capitis clone dissemination with a similar cfr-carrying plasmid in China

Weiyi Shen; Jiawei Chen; Rong Zhang; Jiachang Cai

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105644

An 11-year linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus capitis clone dissemination with a similar cfr-carrying plasmid in China

iScience. 2022 Nov 22;25(12):105644. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105644. eCollection 2022 Dec 22.

Authors

Weiyi Shen¹, Jiawei Chen¹, Rong Zhang¹, Jiachang Cai¹

Affiliation

¹ Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310009, China.

Abstract

Linezolid resistance has represented a global concern with its wide dissemination among nosocomial pathogens in recent years. One hundred and two linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus capitis (LRSC) were constantly isolated from 2011 to 2021, which demonstrated single clonal dissemination in a Chinese tertiary hospital. A structurally similar cfr-carrying plasmid was identified among 90 isolates. A chromosomal cfr was located beside a Tn4001-like transposon and ISEnfa4 in one strain (LR95). The loss of cfr-carrying plasmid was observed in 11 isolates and the in vitro passage experiments. Conjugation experiments demonstrated the horizontal transferability of the cfr-carrying plasmid into Staphylococcus aureus RN4220. Both cfr-positive LRSC and S. aureus showed no significant differences in growth rates, while only the former displayed competition defect, suggesting this plasmid imposed a certain fitness cost on LRSC. Hence, ongoing measurements are supposed to be adopted to control the spread of these antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.

Keywords: Bacteriology; Evolutionary biology; Microbiology.