title: Prevalence of genes encoding for members of the staphylococcal leukotoxin family among clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: Well-characterized Staphylococcus aureus nasal and blood isolates (N = 429) were tested by polymerase chain reaction for the prevalence of genes that encode leukocidal toxins. The leukotoxin genes lukE+lukD were found at high prevalence, significantly more so in blood (82%) than in nasal isolates (60.5%). Although almost all isolates were positive for the gamma-hemolysin gene, none was positive for lukM. Genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) components were very rare in either nasal or blood isolates. The lukE+lukD-negative isolates were significantly more likely to be positive for the staphylococcal enterotoxin gene combination seg/sei (89.5%) and the toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 gene (39.3%) than lukE+lukD-positive isolates (41.7% and 12.7%, respectively). The lukE+lukD-negative isolates were also more likely to show positivity for the accessory gene regulatory locus agr III, but less likely to be positive for the agr II locus. The co-possession of different virulence factors and their probable synergy should receive more attention in order to better understand their role in pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Münster, Hospital and Clinics, 48149 Münster, Germany. eiffc@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: von Eiff
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D005098:Exotoxins; C115218:LukD protein, Staphylococcus aureus; C115217:LukE protein, Staphylococcus aureus; C018579:leukotoxin