SCCmec Home

 Staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) elements are genomic islands ubiquitously disseminated among staphylococci, which live as commensals in the skin or mucosal membrane of human and animals. They serve as machineries to capture foreign DNA segments in order to survive in an environment that is toxic and life-threatening to bacteria. The staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements are the most representative SCCs that encode methicillin-resistance. Determination of entire nucleotide sequences of numerous SCCmec elements have revealed that SCCmec elements have characteristic features. To date, several structural-differences in SCCmec elements have been identified. SCCmec typing, which classifies SCCmec elements based on their structural-differences, is used in epidemiological studies to discriminate MRSA strains or to define a MRSA clone in combination with the genotype of MSSA strain in which a SCCmec element has integrated.

This website has been created to provide tools to understand SCCmec elements that may be useful for the clinical laboratory or researcher who wish to perform characterization of SCC in staphylococci.

☆“Overview” illustrate structures of SCCmec elements.

☆“Search” provides convenient tools to compare new data to extant SCCmec elements by searching SCCmec database, and to ccr genes and Ccr proteins by searching ccr database. The comparison of two SCCmec sequences can be visualized by creating a dot plot. Phylogenetic relations of ccr genes or Ccr proteins can be visualized by creating a phylogenetic tree.  

☆“Identification” lists typing schemes and PCR methods to assign SCCmec elements.

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