Genome assembly of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from nosocomial pneumonia patients

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia. To better manage patients with MRSA pneumonia, we require a greater understanding of the host-pathogen interactions during infection. Research on MRSA isolates mainly focuses on highly virulent and cytotoxic strains, which demonstrate robust phenotypes in animal models of infection. However, nosocomial infections are often caused by hospital-acquired (HA) MRSA isolates that exhibit low cytotoxicity and little or no phenotypes in mice, thereby confounding mechanistic studies of pathogenesis. Consequently, virulence pathways utilized by HA-MRSA in nosocomial pneumonia are largely unknown. Genome assembly of two HA-MRSA clinical isolates, TH16 (CC8) and BS_4884 (CC5) enables for the analysis of differences between these strains and other sequenced strains available.