Comparative analysis of superantigen genes in Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected from a single mammary quarter of cows with mastitis

• Published in: The journal of microbiology Vol. 52; no. 5; pp. 366 - 372
• Main Authors: Fijałkowski, Karol, Struk, Magdalena, Karakulska, Jolanta, Paszkowska, Aleksandra, Giedrys-Kalemba, Stefania, Masiuk, Helena, Czernomysy-Furowicz, Danuta, Nawrotek, Paweł
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2014; The Microbiological Society of Korea; Springer Nature B.V; 한국미생물학회
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens, Bacterial - genetics; Bacterial Toxins - genetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; bovine mastitis; Cattle; coagulase negative staphylococci; Comparative analysis; cows; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; enterotoxins; Genes; Genetic Variation; Genotype; Immunology; interspersed repetitive sequences; Life Sciences; Mastitis, Bovine - microbiology; Microbial Systematics and Evolutionary Microbiology; Microbiology; milk; Milk - microbiology; Pathogens; proteins; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; septic shock; Staphylococcus - classification; Staphylococcus - genetics; Staphylococcus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus xylosus; superantigens; Superantigens - genetics; Toxins; 생물학; Poland; mastitis; enterotoxins; superantigen genes
• ISSN: 1225-8873; 1976-3794
• DOI: 10.1007/s12275-014-3436-2

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare genes encoding superantigens (SAgs) in Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected simultaneously from milk of the same cows with clinical mastitis. Genes encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins and enterotoxin-like proteins (sea-selu), toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (tst-1) and exfoliative toxins (eta and etd) were investigated. It was found that among 30 isolates of S. xylosus, 16 (53.3%) harbored from 1 to 10 SAg genes. In total, in 16 SAg positive S. xylosus, 11 different enterotoxin genes were detected: sec, sed, seg, seh, sei, selm, seln, selo, selp, ser, selu and one etd gene encoding exfoliative toxin D. The most prevalent genes were ser, selu, and selo. Among all the positive isolates of S. xylosus, a total of 14 different SAg gene combinations were detected. One combination was repeated in 3 isolates, whereas the rest were detected only once. However, in the case of S. aureus all the 30 isolates harbored the same combination of SAg genes: seg, sei, selm, seln, selo and on the basis of PFGE analysis all belonged to the same clonal type. Also noteworthy was the observation that SAg genes detected in S. aureus have also been found in S. xylosus. The findings of this study further extend previous observations that SAg genes are present not only in S. aureus but also in coagulase-negative staphylococci, including S. xylosus. Therefore, taking into account that the SAg genes are encoded on mobile genetic elements it is possible that these genes can be transferred between different species of coexisting staphylococci.