Identification of spa gene for strain typing of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from nasal swab of dogs

The purpose of this study was to identify the gene encoding protein A (spa gene) from the dog's nasal mucosa. Spa gene that encodes protein A is a virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus, which has polymorphism properties and can be used for strain typing. This identification was carried out on Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Five of the fourty five samples taken from the dog's nasal mucosa have the characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus; round, gram positive, fermenting mannitol, producing catalase, coagulase and acetyl methyl carbinol. The antibiotics used are penicillin, erytromycin, oxacillin, gentamycin and cefoperazone. Then do the identification of spa genes in 5 Staphylococcus aureus isolates using PCR techniques with specific primers. The results of this study found a positive sample of MRSA were 3 of 5 isolates. The result of spa gene identification is the diversity of spa genes between each MRSA strain and MSSA strain. Electrophoretic picture from the results of PCR of five isolates there are three bands 220 bp, 290 bp and 600 bp, and found 2 isolates that have double band with length (290 bp and 600 bp) and (220 and 290 bp), which showed the presence of more than one allele in spa genes. The conclusion of this research is the fact that the spa gene can be used for strain typing to differentiate S. aureus isolates.