Fitness Cost of Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus by Way of Continuous Culture

Abstract
We examined the effect of introducing type I or IV staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCC mec ) elements on the growth yield of Staphylococcus aureus in glucose-limited continuous culture. Type I showed increased glucose consumption and ATP demand per gram of cells synthesized and decreased cell yield compared to those of the parent strain. In contrast, type IV SCC mec elements had no adverse energetic effect.