The Genetic Structure of Staphylococcus aureus Populations from the Southwest Pacific

Abstract

The genetic structure of Staphylococcus aureus populations sampled from diverse regions of the globe have been the subject of numerous investigations. Here we describe the structure of S. aureus populations collected from the Southwest Pacific. Multi-locus sequence typing was performed on 467 isolates obtained from people with nasal colonization or bacteremia in Auckland (NZ), and patients predominantly affected by skin and soft tissue infection in Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. The predominant sequence types (STs) varied between Auckland (ST5), Fiji (ST30), and Samoa (ST1), however, the overall genetic diversity within each region did not differ significantly between locations. Divergent Clonal Complex 75 (CC75) strains were isolated in Auckland and Fiji. When diversity of the Southwest Pacific populations was compared with those previously described from Asia, Europe, North America and Africa no significant differences were detected. With the exception of CC75 strains, the global collection of S. aureus encompasses relatively little diversity, with novel STs arising locally from a small number of widespread lineages.

Molecular Epidemiological Characterization of Staphylococcus argenteus Clinical Isolates in Japan: Identification of Three Clones (ST1223, ST2198, and ST2550) and a Novel Staphylocoagulase Genotype XV

“…Staphylococcus argenteus is a novel species of coagulase-positive staphylococci previously described as a divergent lineage of S. aureus [1], and has been increasingly reported worldwide as an emerging pathogen affecting both humans [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26] and animals [1,25,27,28,29]. The major characteristic of this lineage is non-pigmented (white) colonies on blood agar plates due to lack of the crtOPQMN gene operon required for staphyloxanthin pigment production [1,2].…”

Comparison of community-onset Staphylococcus argenteus and Staphylococcus aureus sepsis in Thailand: a prospective multicentre observational study

“…Although several of the earliest descriptions of S. argenteus were associated with remote communities [2] , [3] , [4] , cumulative publications have since suggested that S. argenteus is globally distributed. This includes its isolation from humans or animals in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Fiji, New Zealand, Mayotte, Trinidad and Tobago, with additional evidence from the MLST database of its presence in Europe and Africa [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] .…”

Preliminary comparative genomics revealed pathogenic potential and international spread of Staphylococcus argenteus

“…Because of its association with clinically significant infections and foodborne diseases [ 3 , 4 ], S. aureus has been extensively investigated, leading to massive datasets on its species diversity. After the genetically divergent ST 75 was first reported in Australia in 2002 [ 5 ], many other isolates genetically related to clonal complex 75 (CC 75) were described in Belgium [ 6 ], Cambodia [ 7 ], China [ 8 ], Fiji [ 9 , 10 ], France [ 11 ], French Guiana [ 12 ], New Zealand [ 9 ], Thailand [ 13 , 14 ], Trinidad & Tobago [ 15 ], and the UK [ 16 ]. Genomic data tracking showed that this lineage also appeared in the United States [ 17 ].…”