title: Diversity of staphylocoagulase and identification of novel variants of staphylocoagulase gene in Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: Staphylocoagulase (SC) is a major phenotypic determinant of Staphylococcus aureus. Serotype of SC (coagulase type) is used as an epidemiological marker and 10 types (I-X) have been discriminated so far. To clarify genetic diversity of SC within a single and among different serotype(s), we determined approximately 1500 bp-nucleotide sequences of SC gene encoding D1, D2, and central regions (N-terminal half and central regions of SC; SC(NC)) for a total of 33 S. aureus strains comprising two to three strains from individual coagulase types (I-VIII, X) and 10 strains which were not determined as previously known SC serotypes (ND-strains). Amino acid sequence identities of SC(NC) among strains with a single coagulase type of II, III, IV, V, VI and X were extremely high (more than 99%), whereas lower identity (56-87%) was observed among different types. In contrast, within a single coagulase type of I, VII, or VIII, sequence divergence was found (lowest identity; 82%). SC(NC) sequences from the ND-strains were discriminated into two genetic groups with an identity of 71% to each other (tentatively assigned to genotypes [XI] and [XII]), and exhibited less than 86% sequence identities to those of most known coagulase types. All the types [XI] and [XII] strains were methicillin susceptible and belonged to different sequence types from those of coagulase types I-X strains reported so far by multilocus sequence typing. These findings indicated genetic heterogeneity of SC in coagulase types I, VII, and VIII strains, and the presence of two novel SC genotypes related to antigenicity of SC serotypes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Sapporo Medical University School of Medincine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Nobumichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Masaho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishino
authors.forename: Seiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otokozawa
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mise
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uehara
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Miyoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Endo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003030:Coagulase / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008712:Methicillin / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012703:Serotyping; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003030:Coagulase; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D008712:Methicillin