Characterization of staphylococcal bovine mastitis isolates using the polymerase chain reaction

Causes, types, etiological agents, prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, effects on human health and future aspects of bovine mastitis

Mastitis is among the most common and challenging diseases of dairy animals. It is an inflammation of udder tissues due to physical damage, chemical irritation, or infection caused by certain pathogens. Bovine mastitis has been known for ages, but its complex etiology and multi-factorial nature make it difficult to control. Mastitis may have a negative impact on human health by inducing antibiotic-resistant pathogens that may spread, which is threatening. Researchers are continuously struggling to devise suitable methods for mastitis control. Management strategies are mainly focused on disease prevention by farm management which includes proper hygiene, trained staff to monitor minor changes in the udder or milk, and better diagnostic and treatment methods. New technologies which have the potential to unravel this complicated disease include improved diagnostic tools, based on advanced genomics or proteomics, prevention, based on vaccines and immune modulators, and metabolic products of probiotics such as bacteriocins and gene therapy.

Mastitis diagnostics and performance monitoring: a practical approach

In this paper a review is given of frequently used mastitis diagnostic methods in modern dairy practice. Methods used at the quarter, cow, herd and regional or national level are discussed, including their usability for performance monitoring in udder health. Future developments, such as systems in which milk-derived parameters are combined with modern analytical techniques, are discussed. It is concluded that, although much knowledge is available and science is still developing and much knowledge is available, it is not always fully exploited in practice.

Molecular typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from cows, goats and sheep with intramammary infections on the basis of gene polymorphisms and toxins genes

We investigated 116 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from cows, goats and sheep with intramammary infections (IMI) in Italy to provide information about the spread of enterotoxigenic strains and to compare strains isolated from different ruminant species. The isolates were typed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the coagulase (coa) gene, by analysis of polymorphisms of the X region of protein A (spa) gene and by detection of genes encoding enterotoxins (sea, seb, sec, sed, see, seg, seh, sei, sej and sel). Seven different coa types and 12 different spa types were distinguished. On the basis of polymerase chain reaction-RFLP, 29 different coa subtypes were identified. Two different coa subtypes accounted for 49% and 67% of bovine and ovine isolates respectively. Only seven coa subtypes were observed in isolates from more than one host species and no coa subtype was present in isolates from all three ruminant species. Furthermore, 85 of the isolates (73%) harboured at least one enterotoxin gene (se) with a predominance of sea, sed and sej among isolates from bovine IMI, and sec and sel among isolates from caprine and ovine IMI. Comparing the S. aureus isolates on the basis of gene polymorphisms and presence of se genes, significant differences were found in distributions of genotypes among isolates from cows, goats and sheep.

The use of multiplex PCR to detect and differentiate food- and beverage-associated microorganisms: a review

Regarding food safety, rapid detection of microbial species is crucial to develop effective preventive and/or adjustment measures. Classical methods for determining the presence of certain species are time-consuming and labor-intensive, hence, molecular methods, which offer speed, sensitivity and specificity, have been developed to address this problem. Multiplex PCR (MPCR) is widely applied in the various fields of microbiology for the rapid differentiation of microbial species without compromising accuracy. This paper describes the method and reports on the state-of-the-art application of this technique to the identification of microorganisms vehiculated with foods and beverages. The identification of both pathogens and probiotics and the species important for food fermentation or deterioration will be discussed. Applications of MPCR in combination with other techniques are also reviewed. Potentials, pitfalls, limitations and future prospects are summarised.

Application of extended single-reaction multiplex polymerase chain reaction for toxin typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolates in South Korea

The extended single-reaction multiplex PCR (esr-mPCR) developed in this study to detect staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs), including SEA, SEB, SEC, SED, SEE, SEH, SEI, and SEJ, requires fewer sets of primers than other conventional multiplex PCRs and can be used to detect newly identified staphylococcal enterotoxins SEs more readily. Esr-mPCR analysis of 141 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus obtained from abattoir and livestock product samples revealed that 27 of the S. aureus isolates were toxigenic, and two were 2 multitoxigenic isolates. The most prevalent SE type was SEI followed by SEA and SEH. In addition, we investigated the clonal relatedness of toxigenic S. aureus isolates by arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR). AP-PCR analysis of toxigenic S. aureus isolates revealed that the discriminatory power of AP-PCR was 9 (D=0.81), 8 (D=0.77), and 10 types (D=0.83) with primers AP1, ERIC2, and AP7, respectively. The combination of three each AP-PCR result could rearrange toxigenic S. aureus isolates into 10 types and five subtypes, with the D-value of 0.92. Interestingly, our data showed that toxigenic S. aureus isolates from different sources had different fingerprinting patterns although some of them carried the same types of SE genes. These data suggest that combinations of esr-mPCR and AP-PCR can provide a powerful approach for epidemiological investigation of toxigenic S. aureus isolates.

Molecular Typing of Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Bovine Mastitis in Korea

One hundred and sixty-six Staphylococcus aureus isolates from mastitic milk samples from different cows on 26 farms were investigated for staphylococcal enterotoxins(SEs) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1(TSST-1) by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and reverse passive latex agglutination assay(RPLA). SEs and the TSST-1 gene were detected in thirty-seven isolates based on a multiplex PCR; SEA was detected in 32 isolates, SEB in 3 isolates, SEC in 1 isolate, and SEA and the TSST-1 gene in 1 isolate. Of the 37 enterotoxigenic isolates, thirty-three isolates were enterotoxigenic according to RPLA, where 29 isolates produced SEA, 3 isolates produced SEB, and 1 isolate produced SEC. The enterotoxin-producing S. aureus isolates were further characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE). A macrorestriction analysis revealed 11 PFGE patterns. Among the 33 enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates, 45.4% exhibited the same PFGE pattern I. Accordingly, although the enterotoxin-producing S. aureus isolates from bovine mastitis were genetically diverse, 1 common genotype prevailed on the farms, indicating that PFGE pattern I isolates may be the most disseminated in Korea.

Concentrations and specific antibodies to staphylococcal enterotoxin-C and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 in bovine mammary gland secretions, and inflammatory response to the intramammary inoculation of these toxins

To investigate the pathological role of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) in bovine mastitis, the production of SEs and TSST-1 was investigated in staphylococci isolated from 120 mammary gland secretions (MGS, 51 from no clinical sign-mammary glands and 69 from staphylococcal mastitic-mammary glands) collected from dairy farms where staphylococcal mastitis frequently occurred in Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures from 1997 to 1998. Concentrations of these toxins and specific antibody titers in each MGS were also measured. Furthermore, SEC and TSST-1 were inoculated into lactating mammary glands and inflammatory responses were analyzed. A high percentage of staphylococci including Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from both no clinical sign- and mastitic-MGS produced both SEC and/or TSST-1. The concentration of SEC increased with the severity of the mastitis, and was significantly higher (P<0.05) in acute mastitic-than in no clinical signs-MGS. Titers of specific antibodies to TSST-1 in MGS were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those to SEC, regardless of whether or not the cows were lactating or mastitic. Specific antibodies purified from MGS neutralized each toxin in vitro. A significant increase (P < 0.05) in somatic cell counts was induced by the intramammary inoculation of SEC but not TSST-1. These findings indicated that SEC rather than TSST-1 plays an important role in the pathology of staphylococcal bovine mastitis. The inflammatory activity of TSST-1 was probably neutralized by specific antibodies in MGS.

Development of two multiplex polymerase chain reactions for the detection of enterotoxigenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from foods

Two multiplex polymerase chain reactions were developed for the detection of enterotoxigenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus: one multiplex reaction for the simultaneous detection of enterotoxigenic strains type A (entA), type B (entB), and type E (entE) and another for the simultaneous detection of enterotoxigenic strains type C (entC) and type D (entD). Both reactions were standardized with the use of the reference enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus: FRI 722, producer of staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) type A (SEA); FRI 1007, producer of SEB; FRI 137, producer of SEC1; FRI 472, producer of SED; and FRI 326, producer of SEE. Optimized methods were used to determine the presence of enterotoxigenic types for 51 S. aureus strains isolated from meat (sausage, ham, and chorizo) and dairy (powdered milk and cheese) products by the Baird-Parker technique. The enterotoxigenic capacities of the strains were determined by the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the use of reference staphylococcal toxins and antitoxins. Fifty of the 51 strains isolated were enterotoxigenic and produced one to four enterotoxin types, with the most frequently produced types being SEA and SED. Levels of correlation between the presence of genes that code for the production of SE (as determined by polymerase chain reaction) and the expression of these genes (as determined by the indirect ELISA) were 100% for SEA and SEE, 86% for SEC, 89% for SED, and 47% for SEB.

Bovine mammary immune response to an experimental intramammary infection with a Staphylococcus aureus strain containing a gene for staphylococcal enterotoxin C1

Staphylococcal enterotoxin C (SEC), a superantigen, is the most frequently expressed enterotoxin by bovine strains of Staphylococcus aureus causing mastitis. To examine the possible impact of SEC on the immune response of the bovine mammary gland, we monitored changes in lymphocyte subpopulations in mammary glands of four lactating cows after intramammary instillation of S. aureus strain Rn4220 transformed with a plasmid containing a gene coding for SEC1. Four other lactating cows received the same strain transformed with the plasmid without the SEC1 gene (positive control), and four cows were untreated (negative control). Mammary quarter milk samples for somatic cell count (SCC) analysis and determination of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosimindase (NAGase) activity levels were collected daily for 21 d postinstillation. Flow cytometry utilizing three-color analysis was used to phenotype lymphocyte subpopulations isolated from milk samples collected on d 0, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, and 21 postinstillation from all the cows. Milk from mammary gland halves (positive control and experimental) or all mammary quarters (negative control) was collected for flow cytometric analysis. Increased NAGase activity, SCC, and isolated S. aureus demonstrated that infection was established in mammary quarters intrammarily instilled with bacteria. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the proportions of BoCD4 helper T lymphocytes or BoCD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes between the two infected treatment groups. There was a significant day x treatment difference of the proportion of a gammadelta T cell subpopulation that did not express BoCD2, but did express the ACT2 activation molecule and a significant treatment difference of a gammadelta T cell subpopulation that expressed BoCD2, but not the ACT2 activation molecule (P < 0.05). Results do not support the hypothesis that the presence of the gene for SEC1 alters the mammary BoCD4 or BoCD8 T lymphocyte response to infection.

Characterization of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine mastitis in north-east Switzerland

Thirty-four strains of enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus obtained from milk samples of 34 dairy cows suffering from mastitis from 34 different farms in north-east Switzerland were identified and further characterized by pheno- and genotypic methods. This included the identification of staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) types, an antibiotic resistance testing, the appraisal of hemolysis, the egg yolk reaction, the detection of the clumping factor and protein A by means of a latex agglutination, the PCR amplification of a S. aureus specific part of the gene encoding the 16S-23S rRNA "intergenic spacer" region and a species specific part of the 23S rRNA-gene, the PCR amplification of the clumping factor (clfA) gene, the X region and the IgG-binding region of the protein A (spa) gene, the coagulase (coa) gene and additionally a macrorestriction analysis of the chromosomal DNA. Within the 26 cultures which formed a single SE, there were 23 SEC- and three SED-formers. Eight cultures were SEAD formers. It was remarkable that 22 SEC formers were also positive for TSST-1. Eighteen of the 23 SEC-formers could be classified as being of the same phenotype. Most of the cultures of one enterotoxin type also showed a great uniformity in the size and number of repeats of the X region as well as in the size of the IgG-binding region of protein A gene and in the size of the coagulase gene. Macrorestriction analysis revealed 11 PFGE patterns. These were in part only different from each other in a few fragments and thus displayed close clonal relations. The results of the present investigation show that a broad distribution of identical or closely related enterotoxin-producing S. aureus clones seem to contribute to the bovine mastitis problem in north-east Switzerland.

Staphylococcus aureus agr genotypes with enterotoxin production capabilities can resist neutrophil bactericidal activity

Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity is mainly due to the production of a number of secreted and cell surface-associated proteins under the regulation of the agr gene. A region of the agr gene was used to subgroup S. aureus strains according to restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Additionally, strains were subtyped according to the coagulase gene in order to strengthen discriminatory power. Virulence capabilities of agr genotype subgroups were evaluated using an in vitro neutrophil bactericidal assay, which showed that prevalent genotypes were significantly better at evading this primary host defense. Multiplex PCR was then used to detect enterotoxin genes among the genotype subgroups in order to determine possible virulence candidates that enable strains to combat neutrophil killing. The prevalent genotype strains were found to possess higher production capabilities for enterotoxin A than did low-prevalence strains. The significance of enterotoxin A production capabilities in affecting pathogenicity of S. aureus strains was evaluated and found to have a profound effect on neutrophil killing abilities. The use of a large epidemiological database as a tool for subgrouping strains with varying degrees of pathogenicity has allowed the identification of relevant and previously undefined virulence factors that affect a pathogen's capability to overcome host immune defenses.

Use of multiplex PCR to detect classical and newly described pyrogenic toxin genes in staphylococcal isolates

Staphylococcus aureus may contain one or more genes that encode a variety of immunomodulatory pyrogenic toxins (PTs), including the staphylococcal enterotoxins and toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST). The PTs interact with several cellular targets to produce disease, such as food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome. At present, nine serologically distinct enterotoxins and one immunoreactive form of TSST have been identified and characterized. As isolates of S. aureus are further assessed, it is anticipated that this number will increase. To facilitate screening, a multiplex PCR was designed to simultaneously determine which of these 10 currently known PT genes an individual S. aureus isolate possesses. We show here, using S. aureus isolates with characterized PT phenotypes, that this novel PCR technique reliably detects each of the known PTs in a single reaction.

Unique Superantigen Activity of Staphylococcal Exfoliative Toxins

Certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus express one or both of two related, but immunologically distinct, exfoliative toxins (ETA and ETB). These toxins induce the symptoms associated with staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. Both ETs have been shown to stimulate T cell proliferation. Recently, it was reported that ETA is a superantigen that stimulates T cells bearing human Vβ2 or several murine Vβs. However, other investigators have proposed that the superantigenicity reported for ETA resulted from contaminants in commercial preparations. This present study addresses those conflicting reports by assessing the biological and immunologic activities of highly purified rETs. ETA and ETB required APCs to induce selective polyclonal expansion of several human Vβs (huVβs), although, neither toxin expanded huVβ2. ETB induced expansion of murine T cells bearing Vβs 7 and 8, those that have the highest homology to the huVβs expanded by ETA and ETB. Although flow cytometry of ETB-stimulated T cells matched PCR results, stimulation by ETA reduced percentages of T cells positive for several huVβs that had been shown to have increased levels of mRNA transcripts. ETA and ETB induced contrasting reactions in vivo. In rabbits, ETB was moderately pyrogenic and enhanced susceptibility to lethal shock, while ETA lacked both activities. Predictions based on comparisons with other superantigens suggest molecular regions potentially involved in receptor binding in the ETA crystal structure and a modeled ETB three-dimensional structure. These results show that ETs are superantigens with unique properties that could account for the discrepancies reported.