Multilocus Sequence Typing for Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-Susceptible Clones of Staphylococcus aureus

A multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme has been developed for Staphylococcus aureus. The sequences of internal fragments of seven housekeeping genes were obtained for 155 S. aureus isolates from patients with community-acquired and hospital-acquired invasive disease in the Oxford, United Kingdom, area. Fifty-three different allelic profiles were identified, and 17 of these were represented by at least two isolates. The MLST scheme was highly...