A Geographic Variant of the<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>Panton‐Valentine Leukocidin Toxin and the Origin of Community‐Associated Methicillin‐Resistant<i>S. aureus</i>USA300

Abstract

All sampled PVL genes appear to share a recent common ancestor and spread via a combination of clonal expansion and horizontal transfer. US isolates harbor a variant of PVL that is strongly associated with MRSA infections. Protein modeling reveals that this variant may have functional significance. We propose a hypothesis for the origin of USA300.