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Detection of Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus ST398 and ST133 Strains in Gut Microbiota of Healthy Humans in Spain

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Fecal samples of 100 healthy humans were tested for Staphylococcus aureus recovery. Fifteen samples (15 %) contained S. aureus, all methicillin-susceptible (MSSA), being one isolate/sample further studied. These 15 isolates were characterized by spa and agr typing as well as multi-locus sequence typing. High diversity of spa types (n = 11) and sequences types (n = 8) was detected. Two S. aureus of lineages ST398 or ST133 were detected, and six isolates were ascribed to clonal complex 30 (CC30). Strains were susceptible to most of the 17 antimicrobial agents tested with exceptions: erythromycin/clindamycin (three strains, containing erm(C) and/or erm(A) + mph(C) genes) and tobramycin and mupirocin (one strain containing ant(4′)-Ia + mup(A) genes). The presence of 18 staphylococcal enterotoxin genes was studied by PCR, and isolates were negative for lukF/lukS-PV genes, although strain ST133 harbored the lukD-lukE + lukM genes. Other virulence genes detected were (number of strains): tsst-1 (6), hla (15), hlb (9), hld (15), hlg (6), hlgv (9), cna (2), aur (14), and egc-like cluster (3). Analysis of immune evasion cluster genes showed six types, highlighting their absence in two strains of lineages ST133 and ST5. A high clonal diversity of MSSA strains was identified in the intestinal microbiota of healthy humans, being CC30 the most frequent one. This is the first report of MSSA ST133 and ST398 isolates in gut microbiota of healthy humans.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Project SAF2012-35474 from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain. Daniel Benito and Carmen Lozano have a fellowship from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain, and Elena Gómez-Sanz has a fellowship from the Gobierno de La Rioja of Spain.

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  1. Área Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad de La Rioja, Madre de Dios 51, 26006, Logroño, Spain

    Daniel Benito, Carmen Lozano, Elena Gómez-Sanz, Myriam Zarazaga & Carmen Torres

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  1. Daniel Benito
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  2. Carmen Lozano
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  3. Elena Gómez-Sanz
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Correspondence to Carmen Torres.

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Benito, D., Lozano, C., Gómez-Sanz, E. et al. Detection of Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus ST398 and ST133 Strains in Gut Microbiota of Healthy Humans in Spain. Microb Ecol 66, 105–111 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0240-1

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