Food poisoning outbreak in Tokyo, Japan caused by Staphylococcus argenteus.

Abstract

Staphylococcus argenteus is a novel species subdivided from Staphylococcus aureus. Whether this species can cause food poisoning outbreaks is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the enterotoxigenic activities of two food poisoning isolates suspected to be S. argenteus (Tokyo13064 and Tokyo13069). The results for phylogenic trees, constructed via whole genome sequencing, demonstrated that both isolates were more similar to a type strain of S. argenteus (MSHR1132) than any S. aureus strain. Moreover, the representative characteristics of S. argenteus were present in both strains, namely both isolates belong to the CC75 lineage and both lack a crtOPQMN operon. Thus, both were determined to be "S. argenteus." The compositions of the two isolates' accessory elements differed from those of MSHR1132. For example, the seb-related Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity island, SaPIishikawa11, was detected in Tokyo13064 and Tokyo13069 but not in MSHR1132. Both isolates were suggested to belong to distinct lineages that branched off from MSHR1132 lineages in terms of accessory elements. Tokyo13064 and Tokyo13069 expressed high levels of s(arg)eb and produced S(arg)EB protein, indicating that both have the ability to cause food poisoning. Our findings suggest that S. argenteus harboring particular accessory elements can cause staphylococcal diseases such as food poisoning, similarly to S. aureus.

• Authors: Yasunori Suzuki, Hiroaki Kubota, Hisaya K Ono, Makiko Kobayashi, Konomi Murauchi, Rei Kato, Akihiko Hirai, Kenji Sadamasu
• Journal: International journal of food microbiology (Int J Food Microbiol) Vol. 262 Pg. 31-37 (Dec 04 2017) ISSN: 1879-3460 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 28961520 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Enterotoxins

Topics

• Disease Outbreaks
• Enterotoxins (genetics, toxicity)
• Genome, Bacterial (genetics)
• Humans
• Japan (epidemiology)
• Phylogeny
• Staphylococcal Food Poisoning (epidemiology, microbiology)
• Staphylococcal Infections (epidemiology, microbiology)
• Staphylococcus (genetics, isolation & purification, pathogenicity)