Comparative genomics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Staphylococcus aureus

Although MRSA is a major nosocomial pathogen, known as healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA), MRSA has also been isolated in the community and is known as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA). MRSA is associated with skin and soft-tissue infection, pneumonia, blood stream infection, osteomyelitis, especially in children, toxin-associated infection, and others. MRSA is a major multidrug-ressistant pathogen. MRSA includes divergent genotypes (such as sequence type [ST] lineages), and each genotype includes geographic variants. In this project, we investigate the characteristics of MRSA, isolated from Japan, Taiwan, Russia, and others, in terms of drug resistance and virulence factors.