Resistance Profiles and Biological Characteristics of Rifampicin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Small-Colony Variants

Abstract

<i>S. aureus</i> SCVs share the rifampicin resistance mechanisms with parental strains, although there were some differences in the position of <i>rpoB</i> mutations. Moreover, we found that the biological characteristics of SCVs were significantly different from corresponding parental strains. In contrast, decreased susceptibility to other antibiotics of SCVs was observed during phenotype switch. Furthermore, SCVs incur the fitness cost.