Taxonomy: Bacteria; Firmicutes; Bacilli; Bacillales; Staphylococcaceae;

Staphylococcus

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Staphylococcus aureus

I. Organism Information

A. Taxonomy Information

1. Species

a. Staphylococcus aureus

i. Taxonomy ID: 1280

ii. Description:

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive pathogen that causes a wide range of diseases, and is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics (1). These resistant bacteria are called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. S. aureus is responsible for a variety of ailments, including carbuncles, food poisoning, wound and medical device-related infections, bacteremia, necrotizing pneumonia, and endocarditis (2). S. aureus forms a fairly large yellow colony on rich medium and is hemolytic on blood agar. Staphylococci are facultative anaerobes that ferment glucose to lactate. The bacteria are catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. S. aureus can grow at a temperature range of 15 to 45 degrees and at NaCl concentrations as high as 15 percent. Almost all strains of S. aureus produce the enzyme coagulase. S. aureus should always be considered a potential pathogen (3).

To contribute more information, please contact help@nmpdr.org

iii. Variants

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus
Taxonomy ID: 46170

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus COL
Taxonomy ID: 93062
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MRSA252
Taxonomy ID: 282458
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MSSA476
Taxonomy ID: 282459
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MW2
Taxonomy ID: 196620
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Mu50
Taxonomy ID: 158878
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus N315
Taxonomy ID: 158879
Parent: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus

B. Lifecycle and Morphology

1. (To contribute to this description of the infection cycle, please contact help@nmpdr.org)

a. Shape:

Cocci 0.5-1.0 μm in diameter. Cells occur singly or in pairs. Division is in two planes, giving rise to clusters. Colonies are smooth, raised, glistening, circular, entire and translucent. Single colonies may obtain a size of 6-8 mm in diameter (4).

b. Picture:

SEM of Staphylococcus aureus
SEM of numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA (magnified 9560x), by Janice Carr, CDC

C. Genome Summary

1. Genome of Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus COL

a. Chromosome

i. Genbank Accession Number: NC_002951
ii. Size: 2,809,422 bp
iii. S. aureus COL is an early methicillin-resistant isolate (5).

b. Plasmid pT181

i. Genbank Accession Number: NC_006629
ii. Size: 4,440 bp



II. References

1.  Sanger Institute

2.  Holden MT, Feil EJ, Lindsay JA, Peacock SJ, Day NP, Enright MC, Foster TJ, Moore CE, Hurst L, Atkin R, Barron A, Bason N, Bentley SD, Chillingworth C, Chillingworth T, Churcher C, Clark L, Corton C, Cronin A, Doggett J, Dowd L, Feltwell T, Hance Z, Harris B, Hauser H, Holroyd S, Jagels K, James KD, Lennard N, Line A, Mayes R, Moule S, Mungall K, Ormond D, Quail MA, Rabbinowitsch E, Rutherford K, Sanders M, Sharp S, Simmonds M, Stevens K, Whitehead S, Barrell BG, Spratt BG, Parkhill J. (2004) Complete genomes of two clinical Staphylococcus aureus strains: evidence for the rapid evolution of virulence and drug resistance. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 101: 9786-91.

3.   http://textbookofbacteriology.net/staph.html

4.   Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 9th edition. John G. Holt, Noel R. Krieg, Peter H.A. Sneath, James T. Staley, and Stanley T. Williams, editors. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1994, pp. 518.

5.   Gill SR, Fouts DE, Archer GL, Mongodin EF, Deboy RT, Ravel J, Paulsen IT, Kolonay JF, Brinkac L, Beanan M, Dodson RJ, Daugherty SC, Madupu R, Angiuoli SV, Durkin AS, Haft DH, Vamathevan J, Khouri H, Utterback T, Lee C, Dimitrov G, Jiang L, Qin H, Weidman J, Tran K, Kang K, Hance IR, Nelson KE, and Fraser CM. (2005) Insights on evolution of virulence and resistance from the complete genome analysis of an early methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain and a biofilm-producing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strain. J. Bacteriol. 187: 2426-2438.

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'Zinc zipper' plays key role in hospital-acquired infections
PhysOrg.com, VA - 3 hours ago
About two-thirds of all hospital-acquired infections can be traced to two staphylococcal species, Staphylococcus aureus—including methicillin-resistant ...

Antibiotics overused
Straits Times, Singapore - 8 hours ago
... to control infections, high numbers of patients are still coming down with serious infections like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). ...

Novel target for therapeutics against Staphylococcus aureus
News-Medical.net, Australia - Nov 30, 2008
The results show significant structural differences in how staphylococcal and platelet receptor proteins recognize fibrinogen. By exploiting this difference ...

The Medical Minute: National Hand Washing Awareness
Penn State Live, PA - Dec 3, 2008
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are hard to cure. While the existence of the bacteria is partly due to the widespread use of ...

Antimicrobial peptides effectively kill abroad spectrum of ...
7thSpace Interactive (press release), NY - Nov 26, 2008
Results: Strains of two human bacterial pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, were selected to cover a wide range of origin, ...

Health: Avoiding MRSA
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - Dec 3, 2008
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is passed from direct contact with the skin of an infected person, or by touching contaminated ...

Suit over death at St. Mary's ER set for trial in September
Arizona Daily Star, AZ - Nov 30, 2008
... for Disease Control and Prevention said Sweitzer died at St. Mary's of "necrotizing pneumonia" caused by a common bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus. ...
Woman Sues Hospital, Says 8-Hour ER Wait Killed Husband FOXNews
all 2 news articles

Drug-resistant bacteria
WLFI.com, IN - Dec 2, 2008
LAFAYETTE - MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a type of staph infection resistant to antibiotics. Another strain of bacteria doctors ...

Pitfalls in efficacy testing - how important is the validation of ...
7thSpace Interactive (press release), NY - Dec 1, 2008
Immediate spread yielded a valid neutralization with Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Corynebacterium jeikeium but not with Micrococcus ...

MicroPhage Selects Lynn Taussig, MD for Board of Directors
International Business Times, NY - Dec 2, 2008
The first products are targeted for rapiddetection of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and MSSA(methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus ...

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Virtual structural proteome: browse a table of all Staph proteins with entries or homologs in PDB
Staphylococcus genome sequence annotation status: click numbers to browse lists of genes or subsystems
Strain annotated in NMPDRPhenotype Genome size, bp Protein Encoding Genes (PEGs) Named genes in subsystems Named genes not in subsystems Hypothetical genes in subsystems Hypothetical genes not in subsystems Subsystems RNAs
Staphylococcus aureus RF122Bovine mastitis2,742,5312,515974(37.6%) 878(33.9%) 80(3.1%) 659(25.4%)21876
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus COLmethicillin resistant, hospital acquired (MRSA)2,813,8622,6181067(39.5%) 803(29.7%) 50(1.9%) 780(28.9%)25272
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus JH1vancomycin susceptible, hospital acquired (MRSA)2,879,5772,683945(34.5%) 1000(36.5%) 71(2.6%) 723(26.4%)20656
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus JH9vancomycin nonsusceptible, isogenic to JH1, hospital acquired (MRSA, VISA)2,862,9182,6731006(36.8%) 942(34.5%) 71(2.6%) 711(26.0%)21857
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MRSA252methicillin resistant, hospital acquired (MRSA)2,902,6192,6621079(40.4%) 847(31.7%) 47(1.8%) 699(26.2%)264101
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MSSA476methicillin susceptible, community acquired2,820,4542,6081071(40.4%) 832(31.4%) 37(1.4%) 710(26.8%)264104
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus MW2methicillin resistant, community acquired (CA-MRSA)2,820,4622,6421085(40.8%) 803(30.2%) 44(1.7%) 729(27.4%)26521
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Mu50methicillin and vancomycin resistant, hospital acquired (MRSA, VRSA)2,903,1472,7691114(39.0%) 902(31.6%) 101(3.5%) 737(25.8%)26676
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus N315methicillin resistant, hospital acquired (MRSA)2,839,4692,6461102(40.3%) 893(32.7%) 51(1.9%) 687(25.1%)26878
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus NCTC 8325lab strain2,821,3612,893973(32.8%) 979(33.0%) 67(2.3%) 951(32.0%)22077
Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus USA300 FPR3757methicillin resistant, community acquired (CA-MRSA)2,917,4692,6041004(37.6%) 944(35.3%) 42(1.6%) 683(25.6%)22069

Search the Genomes On Line Database (GOLD) for Staphylococcus aureus to see completed and on-going sequencing projects.