AUTHOR=Jena Smrutiti , Panda Sasmita , Nayak Kinshuk C. , Singh Durg V. 

TITLE=Identification of Major Sequence Types among Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Strains Isolated from Infected Eyes and Healthy Conjunctiva

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01430

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.01430

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>We examined the presence of virulence and antibiotic resistance genes, <italic>SCCmec</italic> types and determined the genomic diversity among ocular <italic>S. epidermidis</italic> isolates (patients-23, healthy controls-29). PCR determined the presence of antibiotic resistance genes, virulence genes and <italic>SCCmec</italic> types among all isolates. MLST and PFGE determined the genomic relatedness among them. All isolates of <italic>S. epidermidis</italic> showed resistance to at least one class of antibiotics of which 48 isolates were multidrug resistant and carried ARGs. Thirty-five isolates were methicillin resistant and carried <italic>mecA</italic> gene. Majority of the isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolones and showed mutation in <italic>gyrA, parC</italic>, and <italic>parE</italic> genes, however, few isolates showed additional novel mutations in <italic>parC</italic> gene. Of the MRSE strains, 17 strains carried SCC<italic>mec</italic> type IV, four type V, two type II, and two UT4. Seven strains carried novel combination of <italic>ccr</italic> complex and SCC<italic>mercury</italic> element, not reported earlier. All the <italic>S. epidermidis</italic> strains harbored <italic>icaA</italic> and <italic>icaD</italic> genes, 47 carried ACME operon, and 50 contained <italic>IS256</italic>. A noteworthy finding was the presence of ST179 among 43% of infected eye isolates an observation rarely reported among <italic>S. epidermidis</italic>. PFGE and MLST analysis showed genomic diversity among them. Statistical analysis suggests that few healthy conjunctiva isolates had characteristics similar to infected eye isolates. <italic>S. epidermidis</italic> strains carrying <italic>mecA</italic> gene are multidrug resistant, virulent and diverse irrespective of sources of isolation. <italic>IS256</italic> cannot be used as marker to differentiate isolates of infected eye from healthy conjunctiva.</p>