Mapping the regions carrying the three contiguous antibiotic resistance genes aadE, sat4, and aphA-3 in the genomes of staphylococci.

Tn5405 (12 kb) is a staphylococcal composite transposon delimited by two inverted copies of IS1182, one of which contains IS1181. The internal part of this transposon carries three antibiotic resistance genes, aphA-3, aadE, and sat4, and three open reading frames (ORFs), orfx, orfy, and orfz, of unknown function. The dispersion of Tn5405 and the genes and ORFs included in this transposon were investigated in 50 epidemiologically unrelated staphylococci carrying aphA-3. Twenty-three maps, distinguishable by the presence or absence of the investigated genes or ORFs and/or by the sizes of the restriction fragments carrying them, were identified. Four isolates carried Tn5405, and 15 other isolates contained a Tn5405-related element. IS1182 was not detected in the aphA-3 regions mapped in 31 isolates which carried the following combinations: orfx, orfy, aadE, sat4, and aphA-3 +/- orfz; orfy, aadE, sat4, and aphA-3 +/- orfz; and aadE, sat4, aphA-3, and orfz. In all isolates, the genes and ORFs investigated were in relative positions similar to those in Tn5405. Thus, the internal part of Tn5405 appeared to be partially conserved with the maintenance, in all of the isolates, of at least the three antibiotic resistance genes.