ABSTRACT
Staphylococcus aureus has become an emerging public health concern. Markers that differentiate tissue-specific lineages are needed to trace the sources of strains. The aims of this study were to determine the genotypic characteristics of S. aureus isolates that are associated with skin and urinary tract infections using polymorphisms in the coagulase gene. Coagulase gene variants among 26 S. aureus isolates from human infected skin [n = 10] and urine [n = 16] samples were investigated by amplification of the repeat units encoding the hypervariable region of the coagulase gene. The amplicons ranged from 490-790 bp and were subjected to restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLp] analysis with HaeIII. In total, 6 distinct RFLp banding patterns were observed, designated C1-C6.The C1 pattern predominated in skin and urine isolates. Notably, the C3, C5, and C6 patterns were present in isolates from urine, whereas the C2 and C4 genotypes were preferentially detected in skin sample isolates. These data demonstrate the widespread prevalence of certain genotypes and tissue-specific tendency of other genotypes, suggesting the existence of lineage- and tissue-specific genes that mediate the development of tissue-specific pathogenicities of S. aureus isolates.