Comparative Genomic Analysis of the mecA Gene and agr Operon in Strains of MRSA

Abstract: 

The bacteria species Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses many public health risks worldwide due to its shifty abilities that allow it to mutate and become resistant to various antibiotics. Understanding how bacteria have this mechanism to develop resistance and how to create effective antibiotics is not too clear yet, but with MRSA infecting more and more people, there are more sample strains that can be used to analyze the different patterns and genes of these bacteria. This study focuses on a comprehensive genomic analysis surrounding two prominent genes in MRSA strains, the mecA gene and agr operon. This analysis and comparison will be done through the usage of different MRSA strains from reputed genetic-based databases online, and additionally utilizing different software in order to analyze the different strains to check for gene prominence and nucleotide diversity. The results of this study show that both the mecA gene and agr operon are prominent in MRSA strains, and since at least the year of 2000 and beyond have been found in these strains. Although, there is no significant judgement that can be made as the strains studied only came from sample dates with year 2000 and after, and earlier sample years would have to be studied in order to identify a proper evolutionary history of these two genes.