Abstract
Food poisoning due to the consumption of Staphylococcus aureus contaminated food is a major health problem worldwide. In this study, we sequenced the genomes of ten plasmid-bearing S. aureus strains isolated from retail beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. The chromosomes of the strains varied in size from 2,654,842 to 2,807,514 bp, and a total of 25 plasmids were identified ranging from 1.4 to 118 kb. Comparative genomic analysis revealed similarities between strains isolated from the same retail meat source, indicating an origin-specific genomic composition. Genes known to modulate attachment, invasion, and toxin production were identified in the 10 genomes. Strains from retail chicken resembled human clinical isolates with respect to virulence factors and genomic islands, and retail turkey and pork isolates shared similarity with S. aureus from livestock. Most chromosomes contained antimicrobial resistance, heavy metal resistance, and stress response genes, and several plasmids contained genes involved in antimicrobial resistance and virulence. In conclusion, the genomes of S. aureus strains isolated from retail meats showed an origin-specific composition and contained virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes similar to those present in human clinical isolates.
Highlights
The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus can incite life-threatening infections in both humans and animals (Tong et al, 2015)
The 10 S. aureus strains used in this study were previously isolated from retail beef (n = 3), chicken (n = 4), turkey (n = 2), and pork (n = 1); all strains contained plasmid DNA based on alkaline lysis and PFGE (Table 1; Abdalrahman and Fakhr, 2015; Abdalrahman et al, 2015a,b)
The S. aureus strains used in this study were previously isolated from retail meat products and characterized for enterotoxin genes and antimicrobial susceptibility (Abdalrahman and Fakhr, 2015; Abdalrahman et al, 2015a,b)
Summary
The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus can incite life-threatening infections in both humans and animals (Tong et al, 2015). Nosocomial infections are common, the acquisition of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) from communities and livestock is responsible for clinical cases and the spread of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) strains (Miller, 2010; Mediavilla et al, 2012). In the United States, S. aureus remains responsible for about 241,148 annual cases of domestically acquired foodborne illness (Hedberg, 2011), which is typified by nausea and vomiting. Both humans and animals play an important role in food product contamination during preparation and storage (Lozano et al, 2016), and food handlers are regarded as a major factor
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