Abstract
We compared the effectiveness of various methods for the identification of Staphylococcus spp. other than S. aureus isolated from intramammary infections of cows on 3 dairy farms in Lower Silesia, Poland. A total of 131 isolates belonging to 18 Staphylococcus species were identified by sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA and dnaJ genes, as well using a commercial identification system (ID 32 STAPH; bioMérieux) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS; Bruker Daltonics). Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was found to have low discriminatory value because only 43% of isolates were recognized unequivocally. Much better results were obtained with the dnaJ gene (all isolates were correctly identified at the species level). However, some of these isolates achieved a low similarity level (<97%) and required a confirmatory test (sequencing of the rpoB gene). The performance of ID 32 STAPH was poor. Regardless of the probability level used (80% or 90%), the commercial system obtained identification rates <40%. Using MALDI-TOF MS and the commercial Bruker database, 67% of isolates were identified correctly with scores ≥2.0 (acceptable species-level identification) but this number increased to 97% after the database was expanded. The definitive identification of Staphylococcus spp. other than S. aureus causing intramammary infections in cattle often requires a combination of different procedures, and the existing databases should be updated.