Abstract
Staphylococcus epidermidis is a commensal species that has been increasingly identified as a nosocomial agent. Despite the interest, little is known about the ability of S. epidermidis isolates to adapt to different ecological niches through comparisons at genotype or phenotype levels. One niche where S. epidermidis has been reported is the human gut. Here, we present three S. epidermidis strains isolated from feces and show that they are not phylogenetically distinct from S. epidermidis isolated from other human body sites. Both gut and skin strains harbored multiple genes associated with biofilm formation and showed similar levels of biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces. High-throughput physiological tests using the BIOLOG technology showed no major metabolic differences between isolates from stool, skin, or cheese, while an isolate from bovine mastitis showed more phenotypic variation. Gut and skin isolates showed the ability to metabolize glycine-conjugated bile acids and to grow in the presence of bile, but the gut isolates exhibited faster anaerobic growth compared to isolates of skin origin.
Highlights
Staphylococcus epidermidis is a member of the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), considered a commensal and frequently found as a component of the human microbiome
The remaining stool isolate located on a region of the tree which suggests it is more phylogenetically related to skin isolates and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) recovered from newborn stool samples
In this study we have presented three S. epidermidis strains isolated from the human gut, a source which, to our knowledge, is not represented in online databases
Summary
Staphylococcus epidermidis is a member of the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), considered a commensal and frequently found as a component of the human microbiome. S. epidermidis has been identified as a nosocomial pathogen responsible for antibiotic resistant infections, isolated from catheters, bloodstream, prosthetic joints, ocular, and mastitis infections (Akinkunmi et al, 2014). This bacterium is highly adaptive and can associate with diverse hosts, including sheep, rodents, and plants (Chaudhry and Patil, 2016; Silverman et al, 2017). S. epidermidis has been found in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract (Akinkunmi et al, 2014).
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