ABIS Encyclopedia

Staphylococcus aureus

Taxonomy

Morphology

Cultural characteristics

Biochemical characters

Ecology

Pathogenicity

References

Firmicutes => Bacilli => Bacillales => Staphylococcaceae => Staphylococcus => Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach 1884
(Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus); (other synonims: Staphlococcus pyogenes citreus Passet 1885; Micrococcus aureus Zopf 1885;
Micrococcus pyogenes Lehmann and Neumann 1896 )

S. aureus subsp. anaerobius De La Fuente et al. 1985
S. aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach 1884 – type species of the genus.

Gram positive cocci, 0,8 - 1 μm, non-motile, non-sporing, occur in clusters
resembling grapes (staphylo-). After 48h of incubation colonies are circular, opaque,
yellowish, 0.5-2 mm diameter, S-type, often hemolytic on blood agar

Facultatively anaerobic (S. aureus subsp. aureus) or strictly anaerobic /
microaerophilic (S. aureus subsp. anaerobius), 30-37ºC.
Grow on media:

Trypticase Soy Agar ± 5% sheep blood
Mueller Hinton agar
Dorset with egg (for subsp. anaerobius)
Chapman (selective medium with 75 g/l NaCl & mannitol).

Isolated from human & animal skin, ears and mucous membranes; ubiquitous.

S. aureus subsp. anaerobius
- absceses in small ruminants, non-pathogenic for rodents.
- produce coagulase, hyaluronidase, Protein A.
S. aureus subsp. aureus
- arthritis in chicken, otitis in dogs, mastitis in cows / sheeps;
- skin lesions such as boils, styes and furunculosis, folliculitis, scalded skin syndrome, impetigo;
- may be a cause of toxic shock syndrome (toxins produced);
- deep-seated infections, such as osteomyelitis and endocarditis;
- nosocomial infections;
- food poisoning by releasing enterotoxins into food (staphyloenterotoxicosis, staphyloenterotoxemia);
- produce hyaluronidase, Protein A, coagulase, clotting factor, hemolysins (α, β, γ, δ), leukotoxin, leukocidin, deoxyribonuclease
(DNase), beta lactamase (penicillinase), staphylokinase, enterotoxins (A, B, C, C2, D, E, F), toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST-1).

Holt J.G., Krieg N.R., Sneath P.H.A., Staley J.T., Wiliams S.T., 1994. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, Ninth
Edition, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. Group 17, Gram-Positive Cocci, 527-558.
De La Fuente R., Suarez G. & Schleifer K.H.: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. anaerobius subsp. nov., the causal agent of
abscess disease of sheep. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 1985, 35, 99-102.
Rosenbach F.J.: Microorganismen bei den Wund-Infections-Krankheiten des Menschen. J.F. Bergmann, Wiesbaden, 1884,
pp. 1-122.
Karl-Heinz Schleifer and Julia A. Bell, 2009. Family VIII. Staphylococcaceae fam. nov.. In: (Eds.) P.D. Vos, G. Garrity, D. Jones,
N.R. Krieg, W. Ludwig, F.A. Rainey, K.-H. Schleifer, W.B. Whitman. Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Volume 3: The
Firmicutes, Springer, 392-426.

Coagulase positive. Novobiocin sensible.
Subsp. anaerobius is catalase negative. See tables.

	Hemolysis	Colony diameter >5mm (48h)	Carotenoid pigment	Aerobic growth	Anaerobic growth	Fructose
S. aureus subsp. anaerobius	+	-	-	-	+	+
S. aureus subsp. aureus	+	+	+	+	+	+

Lactose	Trehalose	Mannitol	Xylitol	Nitrate reduction	Alkaline phosphatase/PAL	Raffinose	Xylose	Sucrose (Sacharose)
-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	+
+	+	+	-	+	+	-	-	+

Urease	Growth on 10% NaCl agar	Growth on 15% NaCl agar	Growth at 15'C	Growth at 45'C	Oxidase	L-Lactic acid production	D-Lactic acid production	Acetoin production
+	+	=	-	-	-	+	-	-
+	+	+(w)	+	+	-	+	+	+