Analyses of Livestock-Associated Staphylococcus aureus Pan-Genomes Suggest Virulence Is Not Primary Interest in Evolution of Its Genome

Staphylococcus aureus is not only part of normal flora but also an opportunistic pathogen relevant to microbial genomics, public health, and veterinary medicine. In addition to being a well-known human pathogen, S. aureus causes various infections in economically important livestock animals such as cows, sheep, goats, and pigs. There are very few studies that have examined the pan-genome of S. aureus or the host-specific strains' pan-genomes. We report on livestock-associated S. aureus' (LA-SA) pan-genome and suggest that virulence is not the primary interest in evolution of its genome. LA-SA' complete genomes were retrieved from the NCBI and pan-genome was constructed by high-speed Roary pipeline. The pan-genome size was 4637 clusters, whereas 42.46% of the pan-genome was associated with the core genome. We found 1268 genes were associated with the strain-unique genome, and the remaining 1432 cluster with the accessory genome. COG (clusters of orthologous group of proteins) analysis of the core genes revealed 34% of clusters related to metabolism responsible for amino acid and inorganic ion transport (COG categories E and P), followed by carbohydrate metabolism (category G). Virulent gene analysis revealed the core genes responsible for antiphagocytosis and iron uptake. The fluidity of pan-genome was calculated as 0.082 ± 0.025. Importantly, the positive selection analysis suggested a slower rate of evolution among the LA-SA genomes. We call for comparative microbial and pan-genome research between human and LA-SA that can help further understand the evolution of virulence and thus inform future microbial diagnostics and drug discovery.