Although Staphylococcus strains isolated from meat samples showed low-level of linezolid selleck products resistance in the present study, emergence of the multiresistance gene cfr in meat poses a potentially significant threat to the public health, considering that the cfr-mediated linezolid resistance can rapidly and widely spread among different bacterial

species. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report a surprisingly high occurrence of cfr in retail meat samples in Chinese markets. Animal meat harboring bacteria containing the transmissible cfr would be a serious threat to the public health as these bacteria may act as reservoirs for spreading cfr to bacteria that infect humans, particularly in environments with a large microbial community. Recently, cfr was detected in human isolates in China [20, 25]. Thus, more attention needs to be paid to the possibility that cfr can find its way through the food chain to commensal or pathogenic bacteria of humans. Considering that a limited number of meat samples were used and that to from only one city in China, www.selleckchem.com/products/AZD8931.html the results of the present study regarding dissemination of cfr among staphylococcal species from

animal food sources in China is not conclusive. Thus, continuing the surveillance of cfr gene in meat distributed in China is critical to limit its dissemination, which could potentially threaten the human health. Methods Sample collection, identification of species, and cfr detection In February 2012, 72

pork samples and 46 chicken samples were collected from five free markets and one supermarket in Guangzhou. The meat samples were incubated in Luria–Bertani (LB) broth for enrichment. Then, the cultured broth was streaked onto selective media plates of Baird–Parker agar supplemented with 10 mg/L florfenicol. One isolate per sample was selected for further analysis. Whole-cell DNA was prepared according to a previously described protocol [26]. The presence of cfr was screened by PCR with previously described primers [5]. Species identification of the cfr-carrying strains was performed by the API-Staph System (bioMérieux, France) and further confirmed by 16S rRNA sequencing [27]. Molecular typing and transformation PFGE of selleck all cfr-positive Staphylococcus isolates was performed by using the CHEF Mapper System (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA), according to the previously described protocol [10]. All the plugs of genomic DNA were digested with SmaI (TaKaRa Biotechnology, Dalian, China). The PFGE patterns were interpreted according to the criteria described by Tenover et al. [28]. The location of cfr was determined by Southern blotting. Cfr-carrying plasmids of the isolates were extracted by using the selleck chemical Qiagen Plasmid DNA Midi Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and then transferred into S. aureus RN4220 by electrotransformation, as described previously [29].