{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T15:12:56Z","timestamp":1788880376163,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: This study aimed to characterize the distribution of mecA, pvl carriage, and agr groups, among clinical Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolates and to correlate these findings with comprehensive antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. Methods: S. aureus isolates\u2014obtained from various clinical samples between 1 June 2025 and 30 March 2026 at a tertiary hospital in southern Turkey\u2014were identified using the MALDI-TOF VITEK MS system. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the VITEK 2 system in accordance with EUCAST standards. Target-specific Real-Time PCR was used for molecular detection of resistance and virulence genes (nuc, mecA, pvl, and agr loci (I\u2013IV)). Results: Among the 100 isolates included, S. aureus identification was confirmed via real-time PCR targeting the nuc. The real-time PCR framework demonstrated a perfect correlation between mecA genotypes and phenotypic resistance profiles. The pvl significantly clustered with the agr group II; pvl-positive strains showed high resistance to erythromycin, fusidic acid, and mupirocin, while clindamycin resistance was limited to pvl-negative strains. Conclusions: These findings characterise the local epidemiological distribution of pvl, agr groups and resistance profiles in S. aureus and confirm the independent association between pvl carriage and the MRSA phenotype. These single-centre data highlight the need for future multicentre studies incorporating sequence-based typing, whilst providing valuable information for institutional surveillance and antibiotic management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens15090957","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T14:55:46Z","timestamp":1788879346000},"page":"957","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Molecular Characterization of Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Genotypes in Staphylococcus aureus Isolates: Investigation of mecA, pvl, and agr Groups"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7913-6722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"P\u0131nar","family":"Etiz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Abdi S\u00fctc\u00fc Vocational School of Health Services, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2983-2399","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Filiz","family":"Kibar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Balcal\u0131 Hospital Health Application and Research Center, Central Laboratory, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, T\u00fcrkiye"},{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"H\u00fclya","family":"Binokay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vittorakis, E., Vic\u0103, M.L., Zervaki, C.O., Vittorakis, E., Maraki, S., Mavromanolaki, V.E., Sch\u00fcrger, M.E., Neculicioiu, V.S., Papadomanolaki, E., and Sinanis, T. (2023). Examining the Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility of S. aureus Strains in Hospitals: An Analysis of the pvl Gene and Its Co-Occurrence with Other Virulence Factors. Microorganisms, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms11040841"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Worku, S., Abebe, T., Seyoum, B., Alemu, A., Shimelash, Y., Yimer, M., Abdissa, A., Beyene, G.T., Swedberg, G., and Mihret, A. (2023). Molecular Epidemiology of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Patients Diagnosed with Surgical Site Infection at Four Hospitals in Ethiopia. Antibiotics, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics12121681"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Idrees, M.M., Saeed, K., Shahid, M.A., Akhtar, M., Qammar, K., Hassan, J., Khaliq, T., and Saeed, A. (2023). Prevalence of mecA- and mecC-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Clinical Specimens, Punjab, Pakistan. Biomedicines, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/biomedicines11030878"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"GBD 2021 Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators (2024). Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990\u20132021: A systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050. Lancet, 404, 1199\u20131226."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Azzam, A., Khaled, H., Fayed, H.M., Mansour, Y., Eldalil, M., Elshennawy, E., Salem, H., and Elkatan, H.A. (2025). Prevalence, antibiogram, and risk factors of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) asymptomatic carriage in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infect. Dis., 25.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-025-10819-4"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2200532","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.20.2200532","article-title":"Associated deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Switzerland, 2010 to 2019","volume":"28","author":"Gasser","year":"2023","journal-title":"Euro Surveill."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Briki, A., Alkhatib, N., Aloba, B.K., Verma, S., Nassar, R., Everett, D.B., Ehricht, R., Monecke, S., and Senok, A. (2025). Molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Gulf Cooperation Council countries (2010\u20132025): A scoping review. Front. Microbiol., 16.","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2025.1714252"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102802","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiph.2025.102802","article-title":"Global prevalence and dynamics of mecA and mecC genes in MRSA: Meta-meta-analysis, meta-regression, and temporal investigation","volume":"18","author":"Suleiman","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Infect. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.4103\/ohbl.ohbl_10_24","article-title":"Global, regional, and national burdens: An overlapping meta-analysis on Staphylococcus aureus and its drug resistant strains","volume":"4","author":"Adeiza","year":"2024","journal-title":"One Health Bull."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1168","DOI":"10.1093\/jac\/dkad047","article-title":"Genomic comparison of mecC-carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from hedgehogs and humans in the Netherlands","volume":"78","author":"Dierikx","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Antimicrob. Chemother."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rentinck, M.N., Kr\u00fcger, R., Hoppe, P.A., Humme, D., Niebank, M., Pokrywka, A., Stegemann, M., Kola, A., Hanitsch, L.G., and Leistner, R. (2021). Skin infections due to Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-producing S. aureus-Cost effectiveness of outpatient treatment. PLoS ONE, 16.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0253633"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4518541","DOI":"10.1155\/2018\/4518541","article-title":"Prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Gene among Community Acquired Staphylococcus aureus: A Real-Time PCR Study","volume":"2018","author":"Karmakar","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Pathog."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Derakhshan, S., Navidinia, M., and Haghi, F. (2021). Antibiotic susceptibility of human-associated Staphylococcus aureus and its relation to agr typing, virulence genes, and biofilm formation. BMC Infect. Dis., 21.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-021-06307-0"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.1186\/s40001-024-01831-6","article-title":"Unveilling genetic profiles and correlations of biofilm-associated genes, quorum sensing, and antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a Malaysian Teaching Hospital","volume":"29","author":"Chan","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur. J. Med. Res."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"226","DOI":"10.14235\/bas.galenos.2021.5363","article-title":"Screening of mecC Gene in Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates","volume":"10","author":"Ceylan","year":"2022","journal-title":"Bezmialem Sci."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (2026, May 01). Breakpoint Tables for \u0130nterpretation of MICs and Zone Diameters, Version 16.1. Available online: http:\/\/www.eucast.org\/clinical_breakpoints\/."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"NCBI Resource Coordinators (2025). Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Nucleic Acids Res., 52, D33\u2013D43."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"631","DOI":"10.1128\/IAI.70.2.631-641.2002","article-title":"Relationships between Staphylococcus aureus Genetic Background, Virulence Factors, agr Groups (Alleles), and Human Disease","volume":"70","author":"Jarraud","year":"2002","journal-title":"Infect. Immun."},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"1","article-title":"Relationship of the accessory regulator gene (agr) with multiresistance in Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from hospitals and dental offices","volume":"23","author":"Orellana","year":"2024","journal-title":"Genet. Mol. Res."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"528","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiph.2019.01.063","article-title":"Absence of the mecC gene in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from various clinical samples: The first multi-centered study in Turkey","volume":"12","author":"Cikman","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Infect. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100649","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijmmb.2024.100649","article-title":"Investigation of SCCmec types using the real time PCR method in cefoxitin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates","volume":"50","author":"Zer","year":"2024","journal-title":"Indian J. Med. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.24953\/turkjped.2017.04.005","article-title":"Evaluation of antimicrobial susceptibilities and virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from community-acquired and health-care associated pediatric infections","volume":"59","author":"Karbuz","year":"2017","journal-title":"Turk. J. Pediatr."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"456","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.41.1.456-459.2003","article-title":"Prevalence of agr specificity groups among Staphylococcus aureus strains colonizing children and their guardians","volume":"41","author":"Shopsin","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Clin. Microbiol."}],"container-title":["Pathogens"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-0817\/15\/9\/957\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T14:59:03Z","timestamp":1788879543000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-0817\/15\/9\/957"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["pathogens15090957"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/pathogens15090957","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-0817"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-0817","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]}}}