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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 2006, p. 1839-1843, Vol. 44, No. 5
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.44.5.1839-1843.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Polymorphism of the Cell Wall-Anchoring Domain of the Autolysin-Adhesin AtlE and Its Relationship to Sequence Type, as Revealed by Multilocus Sequence Typing of Invasive and Commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis Strains

Laboratoire de Microbiologie,¹ Laboratoire de Biochimie,² Département de Médecine Aiguë Spécialisée,³ Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologie, AP-HP, Hôpital Raymond Poincaré, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, UFR Paris-Ile-de-France-Ouest, 92380 Garches, France⁴

Received 8 September 2005/ Returned for modification 24 October 2005/ Accepted 23 February 2006

We sequenced the adhesin-cell wall-anchoring domain of the atlE gene of 49 invasive and commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. We identified 22 alleles, which could be separated into two main groups: group 1 (alleles 1 and 6 to 16, 32/49 strains) and group 2 (alleles 2 to 5 and 17 to 22, 17/49 strains). Allele 1 (the type strain sequence) was by far the most prevalent (21 of 49 strains). Multilocus sequence typing showed a clear relationship between the atlE allele and the sequence type (ST), with the "nosocomial" ST27 clone and closely related STs expressing group 1 alleles.