MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF VIRULENT GENES (COA AND SPA) OF Staphylococcus aureus INVOLVED IN NATURAL CASES OF BOVINE MASTITIS

The present study was undertaken to determine the distribution and genotypic characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from naturally occurring mastitis in cattle and buffaloes. For this purpose a total of 1445 lactating cattle (653) and buffaloes (792) present at two experimental livestock farms Okara (Bahadarnagar) and Sahiwal (Qadiarabad), in and around district Faisalabad and slaughtered at an abattoir due to low milk yield and were screened for mastitis. California Mastitis Test (CMT) was used to detect sub clinical mastitis. The positive quarter milk samples were collected for culturing of S. aureus isolates. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified on the basis of growth features, biochemical characteristics, coagulase test and as well as amplification of coagulase (coa) and spa (spa-X) genes specific to its virulence. S. aureus isolates (n=265) were characterized by Polymerase chain reaction to determine the frequency of coagulase (coa) and spa (spa-X) genes. From these isolates the amplification of the coagulase (coa) gene yielded three different PCR products approximately 204bp to 490bp while spa (spa-X) gene produced five different products ranging in size from 190bp to 320bp. PCR revealed that from all the coagulase positive S. aureus isolates 261(98.5%) had spa (spa-X) gene. The results of the present study indicated that S. aureus isolates recovered from bovine mastitis were genetically different within and among the various herds which may provide essential and valuable strategies to control staphylococcal infections in future.