Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST9 in Pigs in Thailand

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important nosocomial and community-associated pathogen. Recently, livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) has emerged and disseminated in Europe and North America and now constitutes a considerable zoonotic burden in humans with risk factors of pig exposure, whereas the extent of the livestock reservoir is relatively unknown on other continents. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From March through April 2011, MRSA was identified in pigs from 3 out of 30 production holdings in Chang Mai Province, Thailand. Representative isolates were subjected to molecular characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility testing; all isolates had genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of LA-MRSA previously characterized in the region: they belonged to ST9, lacked the lukF-lukS genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin, and were resistant to multiple non-β-lactam antimicrobials. However, unlike other Asian LA-MRSA-ST9 variants, they were spa type t337 and harbored a different staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec IX. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A novel MRSA-ST9 lineage has been established in the pig population of Thailand, which differs substantially from LA-MRSA lineages found in other areas of the continent. The emergence of novel LA-MRSA lineages in the animal agriculture setting is worrisome and poses a serious threat to global public health

Distribution of methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> among pig production holdings in Chang Mai Province, Thailand.

<p>Distribution of methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> among pig production holdings in Chang Mai Province, Thailand.</p

Recent advancement in modern genomic tools for adaptation of Lablab purpureus L to biotic and abiotic stresses: present mechanisms and future adaptations

Not AvailableHyacinth bean is an important traditional plant with substantial medicinal value. Being imperative, it is still less explored crop on genomic and transcriptomic scale that has indexed it as an “orphan” crop for its genome revolution. Among different crop legumes such as pigeon pea, chickpea, cowpea, soybean and common bean, hyacinth bean also serves as a significant source of nutrition for both tropical and temperate regions and execute an imperative function in fixing biological nitrogen in agriculture. Nonetheless, the productivity of hyacinth bean is restrained due to environmental and biotic cues. Thus, understanding of the genomic functions and identification of probable genes/proteins for major agronomic traits through transcriptomic approaches has become imperative to improve stress tolerance in hyacinth bean. For understanding the plant stress tolerance mechanisms, the deployment of functional genomics approaches viz., proteomics and metabolomics have become imperious in breeding programs in developing countries. These approaches have been successfully used in other legume crops to create protein reference maps and their exploitation through comparative approaches can greatly enhance the research and understanding of hyacinth bean biological processes to changing environmental conditions. In this review, emerging epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics and phenomics approaches and their achievements both in model/crop legumes are discussed. Additionally, the review also provides an overview of the applications of advanced proteomics, metabolomics and next-generation sequencing technologies in the discovery of candidate biomarkers for the development of agronomically refined hyacinth bean which may further ensure food and nutritional security under adverse climacteric conditions in developing countries.Not Availabl