Investigation of methicillin and panton-valentine leukocidin genes in Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from clotted cream sold in Afyonkarahisar

INVESTIGATION OF METHICILLIN AND PANTON-VALENTINE LEUKOCIDIN GENES IN Staphylococcus aureus STRAINS ISOLATED FROM CLOTTED CREAM SOLD IN AFYONKARAHİSAR This study aimed to investigate the methicillin and Panton-Valentine leukocisin genes in S. aureus strains isolated from Afyon clotted cream samples produced and sold in Afyonkarahisar. For this purpose, a total of 110 clotted cream samples sold in public bazaars located center, center town and villages of Afyonkarahisar were collected between 2019-2020. The isolation of S. aureus from clotted cream samples was achieved by conventional cultural methods. The confirmation of S. aureus strains isolated from samples was made by PCR. In addition, the presence of mecA and pvl genes in strains was invesitgated by PCR. In this study while S. aureus was isolated from 14 of 110 clotted cream samples by standard cultural methods, 13 (11.8%) of 110 samples were typed to be S. aureus by PCR. The mecA and pvl genes were found in none of the 13 S. aureus strains. Key words: Clotted cream, methicillin, mecA, Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, pvl, Staphylococcus aureus