Determination of Genetic Diversity and Similarity among Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains by RAPD-PCR

ABSTRACT: Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity and genetic similarity of Methicillin Resistant S.aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from clinical samples. Material and Methods: Thirty-two MRSA strains were identified by conventional methods. Methicillin resistance of strains were determined by PCR using the mecA gene primers. These strains were genetically typed by RAPD PCR using primers OLP-11 and OLP-13. Bionumerics V7.5 (Applied Maths) program was used for analysis and dendograms were generated by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA). Results: All strains were confirmed as MRSA by PCR. Many different bands from 400 bp to 1000 bp were detected by RAPD PCR and five clusters (1-5) with OLP-11 and four clusters (1-4) were formed with OLP-13. In RAPD PCR performed with OLP-11 and OLP-13 primers, 80% (cluster 3-5) and 86% (cluster 1-4) similarities were found, respectively. MRSA strains isolated from wound samples were found to be more genetically similar to each other, with at least one in each cluster. Conclusion: RAPD PCR was found to be an effective method for the evaluation of genetic similarity and genetic diversity of MRSA strains.

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