Clonal distribution and antimicrobial resistance of methicillin-susceptible and -resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from broiler farms, slaughterhouses, and retail chicken meat

Colonization of food-producing animals by antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), has become a serious public health problem worldwide. In the current study, clonal diversities of livestock-associated S. aureus isolates collected from broiler farms, slaughterhouses, and retail chicken meat were examined. Two-hundred S. aureus isolates (43 MRSA and 157 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus [MSSA] isolates) were analyzed to determine 1) the genotypes of the isolates (multilocus sequence, agr, and spa types), 2) the methicillin resistance phenotype and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types, 3) the antimicrobial resistance profiles, and 4) the mutational changes in gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE in fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates. Fifteen different sequence types (STs) of MSSA strains displaying a relatively high degree of genetic diversity were detected in broiler farms, slaughterhouses, and retail chicken meat. In contrast to MSSA, 2 dominant genetic lineages of MRSA (ST692-SCCmecV with t2249 spa type, and ST188-SCCmecIVa with spa type t189) were found in healthy broilers. The high prevalence of ST692 and ST188 in healthy broilers is associated with high levels of multiple antimicrobial-resistance phenotypes, particularly fluoroquinolone resistance. All fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates carried double point mutations in gyrA (S84L) and parC (S80F), regardless of STs or methicillin resistance. Notably, only the ST188 lineage carried an additional third mutation in gyrB (D494N), correlating with enhanced ciprofloxacin minimum inhibitory concentration values versus the strains with double mutations. These results provide important insights into the genetic diversity of antimicrobial-resistant S. aureus strains associated with the chicken meat production chain, including healthy broilers, in Korea.