Animal and human Staphylococcus aureus associated clonal lineages and high rate of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius novel lineages in Spanish kennel dogs: Predominance of S. aureus ST398

Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MSSP) are gaining interest to track the evolution of emerging methicillin-resistant strains in animals and humans. We focused on the characterization of the methicillin-susceptible coagulase-positive staphylococci (MSCoPS) recovered from nasal samples of 98 healthy kennel-dogs. Isolates were typed by spa, agr, MLST and SmaI/ApaI-PFGE. Antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles were investigated. Presence of the human-associated Immune-Evasion-Cluster (IEC) genes was analyzed in MSSA. Twenty-four MSSA, 16 MSSP and one MS Staphylococcus schleiferi subspecies coagulans were obtained. Thirteen spa-types and 12 sequence-types (STs) were detected among MSSA, with ST398 predominance (7/24, 29.2%). MSSA isolates were enclosed within 6 clonal complexes (no. of isolates): CC5 (8), CC398 (7), CC88 (4), CC45 (2), CC133 (1), and CC22 (1), and one singleton. High clonal diversity was observed among MSSP, and 14 STs (10 of them new) were detected. Twelve (50%) MSSA and 12 (75%) MSSP isolates showed resistance to at least one of the tested antimicrobials, with low MSSA penicillin resistance (5 isolates) and high MSSP tetracycline resistance (9 isolates). MSSA isolates ST398, ST133, ST1 and ST2329[new] were susceptible to all antimicrobials and were the only ones lacking the scn, chp and/or sak IEC genes. High diversity of enterotoxin genes was detected among non-ST398/ST133 MSSA isolates. MSSP showed a more homogeneous virulence genes profile. Our results give evidence that dogs can be S. aureus carriers of not only typical human associated lineages but also lineages commonly detected among other animal species. Continue surveillance on CoPS in dogs is required to unveil their role in the dissemination of clones adapted to other animal species.