The clinical significance of bacteria of the Staphylococcus genus continues to increase, being those isolates capable of present high antimicrobial resistance rates. Another attribute of Staphylococcus spp. that facilitates its wide repertoire of diseases and its survival during the host colonization process, is the ability of produce different virulence factors, allowing their adhesion to anatomic sites, invasion of tissues and the evasion of the host immune system. Therefore, my research focus is to characterize the molecular aspects related to the antimicrobial resistance and virulence of Staphylococcus spp. isolates, associated to infection and colonization, recovered at Rio de Janeiro, through molecular methods such as PCR (Polymerase chain reaction), RT-qPCR (quantitative real time PCR), PFGE (Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis), MLST (Multilocus sequence typing) and NGS (New Generation Sequencing). The detection of resistance and virulence markers, as well as the relative gene expression of them, when associated with specific clonal lineages, will assist the selection of isolates to the whole-genome sequencing, aiming to better understand the molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus spp. clones circulating in our State. Besides, the knowledge of genetic markers related to prevalent lineages, can help the decrease of virulence and resistance genes dissemination, and to propose possible therapeutic options to staphylococcal diseases, contributing in an adjuvant manner to health institutions of Rio de Janeiro.
