Fitness Cost of SCC mec and Methicillin Resistance Levels in Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract
Transformation of a type I SCCmec element into Staphylococcus aureus yielded highly oxacillin-resistant transformants with a reduced growth rate. Faster-growing variants could again be selected at the cost of reduced resistance levels, demonstrating an inverse correlation between oxacillin resistance levels and growth rate.