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Clonal Distribution of Superantigen Genes in Clinical Staphylococcus aureus Isolates ^,

Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany,¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pomeranian Medical University, Sczcecin, Poland,² Friedrich-Loeffler Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany,³ National Reference Center for Staphylococci, Wernigerode, Germany⁴

Received 26 January 2007/ Returned for modification 30 March 2007/ Accepted 17 May 2007

Staphylococcus aureus is both a successful human commensal and a major pathogen. The elucidation of the molecular determinants of virulence, in particular assessment of the contributions of the genetic background versus those of mobile genetic elements (MGEs), has proved difficult in this variable species. To address this, we simultaneously determined the genetic backgrounds (spa typing) and the distributions of all 19 known superantigens and the exfoliative toxins A and D (multiplex PCR) as markers for MGEs. Methicillin- sensitive S. aureus strains from Pomerania, 107 nasal and 88 blood culture isolates, were investigated. All superantigen-encoding MGEs were linked more or less tightly to the genetic background. Thus, each S. aureus clonal complex was characterized by a typical repertoire of superantigen and exfoliative toxin genes. However, within each S. aureus clonal complex and even within the same spa type, virulence gene profiles varied remarkably. Therefore, virulence genes of nasal and blood culture isolates were separately compared in each clonal complex. The results indicated a role in infection for the MGE harboring the exfoliative toxin D gene. In contrast, there was no association of superantigen genes with bloodstream invasion. In summary, we show here that the simultaneous assessment of virulence gene profiles and the genetic background increases the discriminatory power of genetic investigations into the mechanisms of S. aureus pathogenesis.

Published ahead of print on 30 May 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jcm.asm.org/.

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