title: Genotyping and DNA microarray based characterization of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from rabbit carcasses.
abstract: Staphylococcus aureus can cause staphylococcal food poisoning. Although the organism is frequently detected on rabbit carcasses, little is known about the characteristics of S. aureus strains contaminating rabbit meat. In this study, 137 S. aureus isolates originating from 137 rabbit carcasses were spa typed and characterized by DNA microarray. The isolates were assigned to CC5, CC7, CC8, CC15, CC96, CC101, CC121, and ST890, and to 13 spa types (t056, t085, t091, t160, t179, t681, t741, t745, t1190, t1773, t4770, t8456, t14871). Enterotoxin genes detected included sea, sed, sej, and ser. In addition, the egc operon, encoding the newly described staphylococcal enterotoxins SEG/SEI/SElM/SElN/SElO/SElU, was found in all isolates except those of t091. While none of the examined isolates presented genes conferring methicillin, vancomycin, or aminoglycoside resistance, we frequently detected blaZ/I/R conferring resistance to penicillin. The isolates represented a heterogeneous group assigned to clonal lineages detected among humans and animals, with two spa types exclusively associated with rabbit meat (t4770, t8456).
authors.affiliation: Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 272, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merz
authors.affiliation: Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 272, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stephan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 272, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: sophia.johler@uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D005506:Food Contamination; D005513:Food Inspection; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D058889:Molecular Typing; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D009876:Operon; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D010802:Phylogeny; D011817:Rabbits / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004768:Enterotoxins; C000611519:enterotoxin R, Staphylococcal; C116247:staphylococcal enterotoxin J; C019368:enterotoxin D, Staphylococcal; C026066:enterotoxin A, Staphylococcal
keywords: Antimicrobial resistance genotype; Enterotoxins; Food poisoning; Rabbit meat; Staphylococcus aureus