Invasive Staphylococcus aureus strains are highly variable in PFGE patterns, agr group and exoprotein production.
In the present study, we have investigated 37 invasive Staphylococcus aureus strains (collected between 1997 and 2005) from 33 human episodes of septicaemia causing either endocarditis or vertebral osteomyelitis. All S. aureus strains were typed using pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and most strains belonged to any of 4 different PFGE clusters. There was no correlation between any of the PFGE clusters with site of infection. All strains showed highly different expression patterns of extracellular proteins, i.e. we found a vast variation in the number of proteins and amount of individual proteins expressed by the different strains. There was no correlation between any cluster of exoprotein patterns with endocarditis or with vertebral osteomyelitis. We did not find any correlation between agr group and endocarditis, as previously reported. On the other hand, a correlation between some of the PFGE clusters with a certain agr group was found. Known risk factors for S. aureus infections were observed in a majority of the patients.
Gustafsson
Erik
E
School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden. erik.gustafsson@his.se
Jacobsson
Gunnar
G
Nilsson
Patric
P
Enroth
Helena
H
Beronius
Marie Kia
MK
Andersson
Rune
R
Arvidson
Staffan
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004696:Endocarditis / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010019:Osteomyelitis / Q000382:microbiology; D010641:Phenotype; D018805:Sepsis / Q000382:microbiology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*
C095698:Agr protein, Staphylococcus aureus; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators