Whole genome sequence of Staphylococcus aureus strain 37 M isolated from cows with subclinical mastitis in Uganda

This study presents the whole genome sequence of Staphylococcus aureus strain 37M isolated from cows with subclinical mastitis in Kiruhura district, Uganda. The objective was to characterize the genome to understand the isolate's resistance and virulence potential. The genome sequence accompanying metadata are available under the accession GCA_052439145.1.

The final assembled genome has a genome size of 2,795,296 bp, Contig N50 (53.2 kb), L50 16, Genome coverage 2.79534e + 06x, Assembly level contigs and a GC content of 32.5%. It contains 2,748 CDSs, 2,819 genes, 2,584 predicted protein-coding genes, 57 tRNA genes, 3 complete rRNAs (23 S), 5 non-coding RNAs and 159 Pseudo Genes. Quality analysis of the genome using CheckM analysis (v1.2.4) revealed 96.72% completeness, and 0.7% contamination. Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) analysis revealed that the closest type strain to our isolate was Staphylococcus aureus (GCA_000330825.2) with an ANI of 99.04%, 92% assembly coverage, 93.3% type assembly coverage, confirming species-level identity and close relatedness. Screening with the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD) and the Virulence Factor Database (VFDB) revealed several genes conferring resistance to different classes of antibiotics: antibiotic (tet(K) and tet(38)- tetracyclines, mepA, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, norA- Fluoroquinolones, LmrS- Macrolides, aminoglycosides, lincosamide, oxazolidinones and blaZ- Beta-lactams, regulatory gene (mepR, arlR and arlS). Virulence factors included: Adherence (icaA, icaB, icaC, icaD, icaR, clfA, ebp, fnbA, fnbB, map, sdrC, sbi, spa,), Secretion system (esaA, esaB, esaC, essA, essB, essC, esxA, esxB), Enzymes (cap8A, cap8B, cap8C, cap8D, cap8E, cap8F, cap8G, cap8P, cap8O, cap8N, cap8M, cap8L, mgrA, adsA, geh, srtB, hysA), Iron regulators (isdA, isdB, isdC, isdD, isdE, isdF isdG), Toxin (lukF-PV, lip, sspB, sspC) and Hemolysin (hlb, hld, aur, hlgA, hlgB, hlgC, hly/hla).