The spa typing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates by High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis

Molecular typing is an important tool for control and prevention of infection. A suitable molecular typing method for epidemiological investigation must be easy to perform, highly reproducible, inexpensive, rapid and easy to interpret. In this study, two molecular typing methods including the conventional PCR-sequencing method and high resolution melting (HRM) analysis were used for staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing of 30 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered from clinical samples. Based on PCR-sequencing method results, 16 different spa types were identified among the 30 MRSA isolates. Among the 16 different spa types, 14 spa types separated by HRM method. Two spa types including t4718 and t2894 were not separated from each other. According to our results, spa typing based on HRM analysis method is very rapid, easy to perform and cost-effective, but this method must be standardized for different regions, spa types, and real-time machinery.