Fitness Cost of Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome <i>mec</i> in Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> by Way of Continuous Culture

Abstract

We examined the effect of introducing type I or IV staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements on the growth yield of Staphylococcus aureus in glucose-limited continuous culture. Type I showed increased glucose consumption and ATP demand per gram of cells synthesized and decreased cell yield compared to those of the parent strain. In contrast, type IV SCCmec elements had no adverse energetic effect.