Abstract
BackgroundStaphylococcus aureus is an important human opportunistic pathogen residing on skin and mucosae of healthy people. Pigs have been identified as a source of human colonization and infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and novel measures are needed to control zoonotic transmission. A recent longitudinal study indicated that a minority of pigs characterized by high nasal load and stable carriage may be responsible for the maintenance of S. aureus within farms. The primary objective of the present study was to detect genetic loci associated with nasal carriage of S. aureus in Danish crossbred pigs (Danish Landrace/Yorkshire/Duroc).ResultsFifty-six persistent carriers and 65 non-carriers selected from 15 farms surveyed in the previous longitudinal study were genotyped using Illumina’s Porcine SNP60 beadchip. In addition, spa typing was performed on 126 S. aureus isolates from 37 pigs to investigate possible relationships between host and S. aureus genotypes. A single SNP (MARC0099960) on chromosome 12 was found to be associated with nasal carriage of S. aureus at a genome-wide level after permutation testing (p = 0.0497) whereas the association of a neighboring SNP was found to be borderline (p = 0.114). Typing of S. aureus isolates led to detection of 11 spa types belonging to the three main S. aureus clonal complexes (CC) previously described in pigs (CC9, CC30 and CC398). Individual carriers often harbored multiple S. aureus genotypes and the host-pathogen interaction seems to be independent of S. aureus genotype.ConclusionOur results suggest it may be possible to select pigs genetically resistant to S. aureus nasal colonization as a tool to control transmission of livestock-associated MRSA to humans.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0599-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Staphylococcus aureus is an important human opportunistic pathogen residing on skin and mucosae of healthy people
A recent longitudinal study revealed that a minority of pigs characterized by high nasal load and stable carriage may be responsible for the maintenance of S. aureus within farms [24]
A total of 31 and 26 pigs were heterozygotes in the group of persistent- and non-carriers, respectively. Since both single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are located in a non-coding part of the genome, our results indicate that the haplotype tagged by these two SNPs contains one or several genes with an effect on S. aureus nasal carriage
Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is an important human opportunistic pathogen residing on skin and mucosae of healthy people. Pigs have been identified as a source of human colonization and infection with methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and novel measures are needed to control zoonotic transmission. Pigs and other livestock species carrying methicillinresistant S. aureus (MRSA) clonal complex (CC) 398 may act as a source of human colonization and infection [20, 21]. Spread of this livestock-associated MRSA clone is presently regarded as a threat to public health, and effective control measures preventing transmission of MRSA to farmers and other people exposed to livestock are urgently needed [22, 23]. The region of interest was inspected and we identified four candidate genes which may control S. aureus colonization in pigs
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
