www.pelagiaresearchlibrary.com t Available online a Pelagia Research Library European Journal of Experimental Biology, 2013, 3(4):89-92 ISSN: 2248 –9215 CODEN (USA): EJEBAU 89 Pelagia Research Library Prevalence of genes encoding exfoliative toxins, toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 among poultry Staphylococcus aureus isolates Mostafa Nemati 1* , Katleen Hermans 2 , Fazel Pourahmad 1 and Freddy Haesebrouck 2 1 Department of Bacteriology, Ilam University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ilam, Iran 2 Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry Diseases, Ghent University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen in humans and animals. Part of its pathogenicity is due to the production of extracellular protein toxins, called superantigens. In this study a groups of S. aureus isolates in Iran and Belgium from poultry were screened for genes encoding the exfoliative toxins (ETA and ETB), shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1). Fifty S. aureus isolates from 20 poultry farms in Iran and Eighty-one isolates from 39 different industrial farms in Belgium were isolated by the standard biochemical methods. Ten of the isolates in Belgium have been characterized before as Meticillin Resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These isolates were screened for the genes encoding eta, etb, tst by PCR test. In none of these isolates, toxin gene sequences were amplified. These results indicate that superantigens encoded by genes that are detectable with the PCR tests used here, are not involved in poultry. Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, poultry, exfoliative toxins, shock syndrome toxin-1 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION S. aureus is an important pathogen in human and animals (1). In poultry, dermatitis, osteomyelitis, arthritis, synovitis and septicemia due S. sureus are described (2-4). S. aureus belongs to the normal flora found on the skin and mucous membranes of mammals and birds. This bacterium can be disseminated in the host’s environmental and can survive for long periods of time. Several biotypes isolated from different hosts have been described within the species S. aureus (5). Nearly all of the S.aureus strains produce a group of the exteracellular protein toxins, such as hemolysins, coagulase, superantigens (6-7). The superantigens are a group of structural and biologically related proteins containing staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE), enterotoxin-like proteins (those toxins that can not be induce emesis after oral administration in a primate model or they are not tested) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1(TSST-1). The gene tst-1, which is present on the bacterial chromosome within a 15.2 kb mobile genetic element, was subsequently identified as the major causative agent of toxic shock syndrome. Toxic shock syndrome is an acute and