Transduction of penicilinase plasmids within community-acquiredmethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA 300 clone

Two penicillinase plasmids from four different donor strains were transduced to a recipient strain. High frequencies of transduction were observer both in propagated as well as induced phage lysates. The presence of plasmids in phage particles and the frequency of their transfer by transduction were studied by real-time PCR. These results have shown efficient transfer of resistance plasmids between strains of USA300 clone. Moreover, recently isolated phage phiJB proved outstanding transduction ability and has been chosen for further molecular analysis including whole-genome sequencing.