Novel Type XII Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec Harboring a New Cassette Chromosome Recombinase, CcrC2.

Excision and integration of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) are mediated by cassette chromosome recombinases (Ccr), which play a crucial role in the worldwide spread of methicillin resistance in staphylococci. We report a novel ccr gene, ccrC2, in the SCCmec of a Staphylococcus aureus isolate, BA01611, which showed 62.6% to 69.4% sequence identities to all published ccrC1 sequences. A further survey found that the ccrC2 gene was mainly located among coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and could be found in staphylococcal isolates from China, the United States, France, and Germany. The ccr gene complex harboring the ccrC2 gene was designated a type 9 complex, and the SCCmec of BA01611 was considered a novel type and was designated type XII (9C2). This novel SCCmec element in BA01611 was flanked by a pseudo-SCC element (ΨSCCBA01611) carrying a truncated ccrA1 gene. Both individual SCC elements and a composite SCC were excised from the chromosome based on detection of extrachromosomal circular intermediates. We advocate inclusion of the ccrC2 gene and type 9 ccr gene complex during revision of the SCCmec typing method.