Characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated in Poland in 1996 to 2004 That Were Deficient in Species-Specific Proteins

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Abstract
One hundred seventy Staphylococcus aureus isolates, collected in 1996 to 2004, were reidentified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. One hundred ten of these (65%) were confirmed, as previously denoted, to be clumping factor (CF)- or free coagulase-deficient S. aureus , based on their phenotype. Based on the CF or coagulase production, three groups of phenotypically deficient S. aureus isolates were distinguished. Group 1 encompassed CF-positive and coagulase-deficient isolates, group 2 consisted of CF-deficient and coagulase-positive isolates, and group 3 included isolates that were CF positive, had delayed coagulase activity, and were deficient in other species-specific features. All investigated strains harbored the clfA , clfB , coa , spa , and nuc genes, but the presence of their products was not detected by the phenotypic methods. Glycopeptide susceptibility testing showed that 26 isolates (23.6%) were hetero-glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (hGISA) or hetero-teicoplanin-intermediate S. aureus (hTISA), based on the population analysis profile. The relatedness of the isolates was evaluated by multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing. The phenotypically deficient S. aureus isolates were classified into PFGE types B (ST239-III) and D (ST246-IA) and were related to the common clones, Hungarian and Iberian, respectively, which have been widely disseminated in Poland and globally. The simultaneous occurrence of hGISA/hTISA and the CF-deficient phenotypes was found for 62.1% of isolates belonging to group 2. The majority of these isolates were assigned to the Iberian clone (PFGE type D; ST247-IA). An association between the defect in coagulase and that in thermonuclease production was observed, which concerned 59.2% of isolates of group 1. The majority of these isolates belonged to the Hungarian clone (PFGE type B; ST239-III).

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