Identification of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus saprophyticus by polymerase chain reaction based on the heat-shock repressor encoding hrcA gene

•We standardized a PCR protocol for identification of Staphylococcus saprophyticus.•All the S. saprophyticus strains (n = 142) were correctly identified.•Ninety-eight non-S. saprophyticus strains were included to validate the method.•The results were in accordance with MALDI-TOF MS identification.

Staphylococcus saprophyticus is an uropathogen belonging to the human microbiota and is responsible for community-acquired infections of the urinary tract. Identification of Staphylococcus species by biochemical tests is laborious and costly when compared to routine laboratory tests. Because of their high sensitivity and specificity, molecular methods are better suited for accurate identification of Staphylococcusspp. Therefore, the goal of this work was to standardize a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol using species-specific primers, based on the heat-shock repressor coding hrcA gene, for the identification of S.saprophyticus. A total of 142 S. saprophyticus strains were obtained from different sources, including clinical, environmental, and foodborne strains. We also included 98 strains of Staphylococcus spp. to further validate the proposed method. Reliable results for the detection of S. saprophyticus isolates were obtained for 100% of the strains evaluated. The results were in accordance with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry identification, thus highlighting the applicability of species-specific PCR for the molecular identification of S. saprophyticus.