Detection of Resistance mecA Gene In Gram Positive Bacteria Described as Nosocomial | Biomedgrid

Shortly after the introduction of an antimicrobial to the market it has been possible to find bacteria that are resistant to its action. This resistance is natural in some bacteria, while in others it is a condition acquired through the incorporation of genes that code various mechanisms of resistance. These resistant strains represent a big problem in human hospitals when causing nosocomial infections, since the therapeutic options are limited. In veterinary medicine, although nosocomial infections are increasing, they are still less studied than those acquired by people. However, these infections -both in human and veterinary patients- have in common to be caused, mainly, by methicillin-resistant staphylococci. Due to this fact, in addition to the fact that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is transmitted between different animal species, including humans, the purpose of this work was to detect the mecA resistance gene in bacteria described as nosocomial. For this, three environmental bacterial strains isolated from Veterinary Hospitals of the University of Chile and that showed resistance to oxacillin were used: Staphylococcus kloosii, Micrococcus sedentarius and Enterococcus faecium. After the extraction of the DNA, the technique of the Polymerase Chain Reaction and the corresponding electrophoresis, fluorescent bands of approximately 500 bp were obtained. These amplicons were sent to be sequenced and the sequences obtained were compared with those described in the GenBank® for the mecA gene. The percentages of nucleotide identity of 97%, 97% and 98%, respectively, confirm the presence of strains that possess the mecA gene and suggest its early incorporation as positive control strains in future investigations