[Molecular subtyping of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a severe food-poisoning].

OBJECTIVE

To study the molecular types of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a severe food-poisoning and to trace the possible strains.

METHODS

Real-time PCR was applied to detect nuc gene as a specific marker for S. aureus, mecA gene encoding methicillin resistance and 5 other genes encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins (sea, seb, see, sed, see). Isolates were also performed with 16S rRNA oligonucleotide sequence analyzing by DNAStar MegAlign 5.0 software and pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) by BioNumerics Version 4.0 software.

RESULTS

The nuc gene was detected from the 10 isolated strains, sea and seb genes were detected from 7 strains. There were 4 16 S rRNA types and 5 PFGE types found from all the strains.

CONCLUSIONS

Three relative S. aureus strains were involved in the severe food-poisoning at least. Molecular subtyping might give a molecular epidemiological evidence and support the source tracing of an outbreak.