Up until now, the capsular polysaccharides of
Staphylococcus aureus
have been classified into 11 types, of which only 2 types 5 and 8; (encoded by the genes
cap5
and
cap8,
respectively) are present in 80–90% of clinically significant strains. The aim of the present study was to detect the capsular genotypes of methicillin-resistant
S. aureus
(MRSA) clinical isolates and determined their clonal distribution. A total of 262 MRSA clinical isolates from different hospitals in Mexico were analyzed by PCR to determine the genetic characteristics of their capsule expression. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing were used to characterize the isolates. The analysis of the capsular genotypes among MRSA isolates showed that 245 isolates (93.5%) contained the
cap5
gene, and that the remaining 17 (6.5%) encoded the
cap8
gene. The MRSA isolates were grouped into four clonal groups. The identification of the capsular genotypes of clinical isolates of MRSA is important information because potential vaccine formulations against
S. aureus
involve capsular polysaccharides.
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