%0 Journal Article %A Pi, Borui %A Yu, Meihong %A Chen, Yagang %A Yu, Yunsong %A Li, Lanjuan %T Distribution of the ACME-arcA gene among meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus and identification of a novel ccr allotype in ACME-arcA-positive isolates %D 2009 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 58 %N 6 %P 731-736 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.007351-0 %K MRSH, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus %K ACME, arginine catabolic mobile element %K MRSA, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus %K CNS, coagulase-negative staphylococci %I Microbiology Society, %X The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of ACME (arginine catabolic mobile element)-arcA-positive isolates among meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus (MRSH). ACME-arcA, native arcA and SCCmec elements were detected by PCR. Susceptibilities to 10 antimicrobial agents were compared between ACME-arcA-positive and -negative isolates by chi-square test. PFGE was used to investigate the clonal relatedness of ACME-arcA-positive isolates. The phylogenetic relationships of ACME-arcA and native arcA were analysed using the neighbour-joining methods of mega software. A total of 42 (47.7 %) of 88 isolates distributed in 13 PFGE types were positive for the ACME-arcA gene. There were no significant differences in antimicrobial susceptibility between ACME-arcA-positive and -negative isolates. A novel ccr allotype (ccrAB SHP) was identified in ACME-arcA-positive isolates. Among 42 ACME-arcA-positive isolates: 8 isolates harboured SCCmec V, 8 isolates harboured class C1 mec complex and ccrAB SHP; 22 isolates harbouring class C1 mec complex and 4 isolates harbouring class C2 mec complex were negative for all known ccr allotypes. The ACME-arcA-positive isolates were first found in MRSH with high prevalence and clonal diversity, which suggests a mobility of ACME within MRSH. The results from this study revealed that MRSH is likely to be one of the potential reservoirs of ACME for Staphylococcus aureus. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.007351-0