Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2001, p. 2151-2156, Vol. 39, No. 6
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.6.2151-2156.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Presence of icaA and icaD
Genes and Slime Production in a Collection of Staphylococcal Strains
from Catheter-Associated Infections
Carla Renata
Arciola,1,2,*
Lucilla
Baldassarri,3 and
Lucio
Montanaro1,2,*
Research Laboratory on Biocompatibility of
Implant Materials, Rizzoli Orthopedic
Institute,1 and Experimental Pathology
Department, University of Bologna,2 Bologna, and
Laboratorio di Ultrastrutture, Istituto Superiore di
Sanità, Rome,3 Italy
Received 15 May 2000/Returned for modification 25 July
2000/Accepted 23 February 2001
Both Staphylococcus epidermidis and
Staphylococcus aureus are important causes of infections
associated with catheters and other medical devices. It has recently
been shown that not only S. epidermidis but also S. aureus can produce slime and carries the ica operon
responsible for slime production. In the operon, coexpression of
icaA and icaD is required for full slime
synthesis. In this study, the presence of icaA and
icaD was determined in a collection of 91 staphylococcal
(68 S. epidermidis and 23 S. aureus) strains
from intravenous catheter-associated infections, in 10 strains from the
skin and mucosa of healthy volunteers, and in two reference strains by
a PCR method. Slime-forming ability was tested on Congo red agar
plates; 49% of S. epidermidis strains from catheters and,
surprisingly, 61% of S. aureus strains were icaA and icaD positive and slime forming. All
the saprophytic strains turned out to be negative for both
icaA and icaD and also non-slime forming. Two
S. aureus and one S. epidermidis strain from
catheters, detected as icaA and icaD positive
by PCR analysis and as slime forming (black colonies) at 24 h on
Congo red agar, at 48 h exhibited tiny red spikes at the center of
black colonies. The onset of these variants could not be ascribed to a
mutagenic potential of Congo red, which, in the Ames test, was devoid
of mutagenicity. PCR analysis showed that these red variants were negative for both icaA and icaD and even
lacking the entire icaADBC operon. The data reported
indicate an important role of ica genes as a virulence
marker in staphylococcal infections from intravenous catheters.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratorio di
Biocompatibilità dei Materiali da Impianto, Istituti Ortopedici
Rizzoli, Via di Barbiano, 1/10, 40136 Bologna, Italy. Phone: 39 51 6366599. Fax: 39 51 6366599. E-mail for Carla Renata Arciola:
carlarenata.arciola{at}ior.it. E-mail for Lucio Montanaro:
luciomontanaro{at}alma.unibo.it.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2001, p. 2151-2156, Vol. 39, No. 6
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.6.2151-2156.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Zhang, K., McClure, J.-A., Elsayed, S., Conly, J. M.
(2009). Novel Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec Type, Tentatively Designated Type VIII, Harboring Class A mec and Type 4 ccr Gene Complexes in a Canadian Epidemic Strain of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
53: 531-540
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Behlau, I., Gilmore, M. S.
(2008). Microbial Biofilms in Ophthalmology and Infectious Disease. Arch Ophthalmol
126: 1572-1581
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
O'Neill, E., Pozzi, C., Houston, P., Smyth, D., Humphreys, H., Robinson, D. A., O'Gara, J. P.
(2007). Association between Methicillin Susceptibility and Biofilm Regulation in Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Device-Related Infections. J. Clin. Microbiol.
45: 1379-1388
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Blanco, A. R., Sudano-Roccaro, A., Spoto, G. C., Nostro, A., Rusciano, D.
(2005). Epigallocatechin Gallate Inhibits Biofilm Formation by Ocular Staphylococcal Isolates. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
49: 4339-4343
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Gill, S. R., Fouts, D. E., Archer, G. L., Mongodin, E. F., DeBoy, R. T., Ravel, J., Paulsen, I. T., Kolonay, J. F., Brinkac, L., Beanan, M., Dodson, R. J., Daugherty, S. C., Madupu, R., Angiuoli, S. V., Durkin, A. S., Haft, D. H., Vamathevan, J., Khouri, H., Utterback, T., Lee, C., Dimitrov, G., Jiang, L., Qin, H., Weidman, J., Tran, K., Kang, K., Hance, I. R., Nelson, K. E., Fraser, C. M.
(2005). Insights on Evolution of Virulence and Resistance from the Complete Genome Analysis of an Early Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strain and a Biofilm-Producing Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Strain. J. Bacteriol.
187: 2426-2438
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Fitzpatrick, F., Humphreys, H., O'Gara, J. P.
(2005). Evidence for icaADBC-Independent Biofilm Development Mechanism in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolates. J. Clin. Microbiol.
43: 1973-1976
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Fluckiger, U., Ulrich, M., Steinhuber, A., Doring, G., Mack, D., Landmann, R., Goerke, C., Wolz, C.
(2005). Biofilm Formation, icaADBC Transcription, and Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin Synthesis by Staphylococci in a Device-Related Infection Model. Infect. Immun.
73: 1811-1819
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Frank, K. L., Hanssen, A. D., Patel, R.
(2004). icaA Is Not a Useful Diagnostic Marker for Prosthetic Joint Infection. J. Clin. Microbiol.
42: 4846-4849
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Beenken, K. E., Dunman, P. M., McAleese, F., Macapagal, D., Murphy, E., Projan, S. J., Blevins, J. S., Smeltzer, M. S.
(2004). Global Gene Expression in Staphylococcus aureus Biofilms. J. Bacteriol.
186: 4665-4684
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Kaplan, J. B., Ragunath, C., Velliyagounder, K., Fine, D. H., Ramasubbu, N.
(2004). Enzymatic Detachment of Staphylococcus epidermidis Biofilms. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
48: 2633-2636
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Gad, F., Zahra, T., Hasan, T., Hamblin, M. R.
(2004). Effects of Growth Phase and Extracellular Slime on Photodynamic Inactivation of Gram-Positive Pathogenic Bacteria. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
48: 2173-2178
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Garcia, P., Benitez, R., Lam, M., Salinas, A. M., Wirth, H., Espinoza, C., Garay, T., Depix, M. S., Labarca, J., Guzman, A. M.
(2004). Coagulase-negative staphylococci: clinical, microbiological and molecular features to predict true bacteraemia. J Med Microbiol
53: 67-72
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Moretro, T., Hermansen, L., Holck, A. L., Sidhu, M. S., Rudi, K., Langsrud, S.
(2003). Biofilm Formation and the Presence of the Intercellular Adhesion Locus ica among Staphylococci from Food and Food Processing Environments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
69: 5648-5655
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Klug, D., Wallet, F., Kacet, S., Courcol, R. J.
(2003). Involvement of Adherence and Adhesion Staphylococcus epidermidis Genes in Pacemaker Lead-Associated Infections. J. Clin. Microbiol.
41: 3348-3350
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Conlon, K. M., Humphreys, H., O'Gara, J. P.
(2002). icaR Encodes a Transcriptional Repressor Involved in Environmental Regulation of ica Operon Expression and Biofilm Formation in Staphylococcus epidermidis. J. Bacteriol.
184: 4400-4408
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
de Silva, G. D. I., Kantzanou, M., Justice, A., Massey, R. C., Wilkinson, A. R., Day, N. P. J., Peacock, S. J.
(2002). The ica Operon and Biofilm Production in Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Associated with Carriage and Disease in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. J. Clin. Microbiol.
40: 382-388
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Rohde, H., Knobloch, J. K. M., Horstkotte, M. A., Mack ;, D., Arciola, C. R., Montanaro, L., Baldassarri, L.
(2001). Correlation of Staphylococcus aureus icaADBC Genotype and Biofilm Expression Phenotype. J. Clin. Microbiol.
39: 4595-4596
[Full Text]