Abstract

DETECTION OF icaAB AND mecA GENES IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS EPIDERMIDIS BY COMBINED POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION AND ANALYSIS

Suja Philip*, E. K. Radhakrishnan¹ and Jyothis Mathew¹.

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance and biofilm forming characters makes Staphylococcus epidermidis as the leading cause of infections associated with medical devices. The prevalence of biofilm forming (icaAB) and methicillin resistance (mecA) genes among the isolates of S. epidermidis was studied and their sequence were analysed. The PCR amplification of all tested strains showed positive result, except one strain (CNS E- 87) which was biofilm positive by spectrophotometric methods, suggesting that ica independent and possibly protein dependent pathways can replace PIA synthesis in the biofilm accumulation phase. The sequence data of both icaAB and mecA gene genes showed 98% and 99% similarity to S. epidermidis intercellular adhesion operon (Acc no. gb/AY 138959.1) and S. epidermidis strain BCB-F63 SCCmec type IVA element (Acc no. gb/GU 451307.1) respectively. This study can give rapid information about biofilm heterogenecity and helpful in designing effective surveillance and strategies to control S. epidermidis infections.

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