Prevalence of lukPVL and lukMF’ genes in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from different host species and food samples: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus produces several leucocidins that cause cell lysis of neutrophils. Two of these leucotoxins are the bicomponent pore-forming complexes LukMF’ and Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL). Both genes encoding these toxins, lukMF’ and lukPVL, are located within the genomes of phages which can be transmitted horizontally between bacteria. The prevalence of both phage-encoded leucocidins strongly varies between populations. However, whereas host specificity is assumed, until now it remained unclear how much variation in prevalence exists between and within host species. Scopus was searched for original research reporting the prevalence of lukMF’ and lukPVL genes among Staphylococcus aureus strains of different animal species and food samples published before 16 January 2015. The estimated mean prevalence of both leucocidins per animal species was calculated by a random-effect meta-analysis. Of 1300 articles found by the search strategy, 82 studies could be used for the meta-analysis. In total 30 prevalences were reported for lukMF’ and 100 for lukPVL. It was shown that the prevalence of lukMF’ varied between isolates from different animal species. The encoding genes were found most frequently in isolates associated with ruminants. The estimated mean prevalence of the lukPVL gene was low in most animal species but high in strains cultured from rabbits and rooks. The small number of isolates resulted in a large 95% CI. Therefore, the variation seen was not significant. This meta-analysis shows a host association, suggesting a host specific activity of both phage-coded leucocidins.