Staphylococcus schleiferi subsp. coagulans subsp. nov., Isolated from the External Auditory Meatus of Dogs with External Ear Otitis

Abstract

A new subspecies, Staphylococcus schleiferi subsp. couguluns, was isolated from the external auditory meatus of dogs suffering from external ear otitis and is described on the basis of studies of 21 strains. Phenotypic studies showed that these strains are more closely related to Staphylococcus intermedius than to other staphylococci, but DNA hybridization studies indicated that they are closely related to Staphylococcus schleiferi NS50274T. On the basis of biochemical distinctiveness (positive test tube coagulase test and different carbohydrate reactions) and the etiological importance (frequent isolation from otitis specimens from dogs) of these strains, we propose to classify them as a subspecies of S. schleiferi. The strains of this new subspecies are coagulase tube test, P-hemolysin, and heat-stable nuclease positive but clumping factor negative. A simple scheme for the differentiation of S . schleiferi subsp. cougulans from the other coagulase-positive staphylococci is presented. The type strain is GA211 (=JCM 7470).The coagulase-positive species Staphylococcus intermedius is often isolated from veterinary clinical specimens from dogs (1-3,15) and is sometimes isolated from those from cats (2, 8). In the course of our taxonomic studies on staphylococci isolated from dogs and cats, a group of unidentified coagulase-positive strains was discovered. These strains were isolated from the external auditory meatus of dogs suffering from external ear otitis. Though strains from this group were phenotypically similar to strains of S . intermedius, we cannot identify these strains as S. intermedius, because acetoin is produced and acid is not generated from trehalose, unlike the reactions of S . intermedius. In the course of DNA-DNA hybridization studies, our unidentified group of strains revealed high levels of homology with S . schleiferi N850274T. S . schleiferi was reported by Freney et al. in 1988 as a new species isolated from human clinical specimens. It produced no coagulase in tube tests (9). Despite a relatively high level of DNA homology, phenotypic characteristics of S . schleiferi do not match those of our strains. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. Twenty-one strains (GA11, GA64, GA89, GA116, GA124, GA199, GA211, GA222, GA227, GA238, GA247, GA288, GA337, GA347, GA390, GA400, GA412, GA416, GA456, GA483, and GA499) were isolated between 1982 and 1988 from discharges of the external ear of dogs diagnosed as suffering from external ear otitis. The isolation medium was Trypticase soy agar (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.) supplemented with 5% defibrinated horse blood. Cultures were maintained at -80°C in skim milk (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.). Unless noted otherwise, inocula for biochemical tests were prepared from overnight cultures on P agar plates (13), and incubation for tests was at 37°C. The type strains of various Staphylococcus species were obtained as previously described (11).Methods. Cell and colony characteristics, the production * Corresponding author.of catalase, oxida...

Isolation and Characterization of Staphylococci from External Auditory Meatus of Dogs with or without Otitis Externa with Special Reference to Staphylococcus schleiferi subsp. coagulans Isolates

“…Phenotypes of S. schleiferi subsp. coagulans are closely related to those of S. intermedius [8]. In routine laboratory practice, S. schleiferi subsp.…”

“…coagulans has also been isolated from the external auditory meatus of OE dogs [8]. Subsequently, the organism was cultured from dogs with pyoderma [1,5,7] and from a finger-wound infection in a human patient [21].…”

Phylogenetic Analyses of Staphylococcus Based on the 16S rDNA Sequence and Assignment of Clinical Isolates from Animals.

“…The positive result of this strain in the coagulase test and negative results in maltose and trehalose acidification indicated that the organism is subsp. coagulans [22]. Strain FD21-2, isolated from a specimen of subcutaneous abscess of a cat, was clearly identified as S. felis with one nucleotide change from the type strain of the species.…”

“…Each of these strains was grown on a trypticase soy agar plate incorporating 5% bovine blood under an atmosphere Thirty-six taxa (species and subspecies) of the genus Staphylococcus are listed in the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) catalogue, updated in June 1996. Four species and three subspecies of Staphylococcus have been added to the list of bacteria as newly-identified organisms from studies conducted in the 1990s [5,14,22,26,37,38,40]. Some of these studies employed sequence analyses of the ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) or its transcript (rRNA) [14,40].…”

Primer reporte de aislamiento de Staphylococcus schleiferi subespecie coagulans en perros con pioderma y otitis externa en Chile

“…coagulans was identified and described for the first time in 1990 by Igimi et al (1990) in dogs with otitis. The objective of this report was to determine the frequency of isolation of S. schleiferi subsp.…”