Coagulase gemne variants associated with distinct populations of Staphylococcus aureus

An identifying characteristic of Staphylococcus aureus is the production of staphylocoagulase (coagulase). The aim of this study was to determine the clonal distribution of coagulase gene (coa) variants within populations of S. aureus defined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and protein A variation. The N-terminal region of the coa gene from 43 methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and 252 methicillin-resistant (MRSA) S. aureus human isolates and 9 animal S. aureus isolates was amplified and digested with HinfI. Twelve types were identified amongst the MSSA isolates and the majority (93%) of MRSA isolates were assigned to 5 of the 12 types. MLST and PFGE analysis identified epidemic populations of MRSA and each epidemic population was characterized by a different coagulase type. Nine of the 12 MLST-defined clonal complex ancestral genotypes recently described each carried a different coagulase type suggesting that coagulase evolution and the evolution of the clonal complexes are intimately related.