Use of 5-Enolpyruvylshikmate-3-Phosphate Synthase Encoding Gene for Typing of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Skin and Urinary Tract Infections of Human

Staphylococcus aureus is both a successful human commensal and a major pathogen. In this study we investigated the genetic diversity of 26 S. aureus isolates recovered from human skin and urinary tract infections. Typing procedure for the studied S. aureus isolates was performed based on PCR amplification of the aroA gene, which encodes the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikmate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) that involves in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the product. All S. aureus isolates produced a single PCR amplification product of 1,153 bp. Digestion of the PCR products with the TaqI endonuclease revealed four different aroA gene patterns designated as A, B, N and H according to the nomenclature system of previous studies. In general, 80.77% of the studied isolates displayed type N, 7.69% were type B, 7.69% were type H and 3.85% displayed type A. Divergent aroA types were detected among S. aureus isolates from skin and urinary tract infections. The results showed that urinary tract infections were contaminated by S. aureus isolates with identical banding patterns (A), while isolates recovered from skin infections had different aroA types. This study also indicates that aroA genotypes vary not only from region to region, but also in individual hosts within a region.