Staphylococcus aureus Sequences from Osteomyelitic Specimens of a Pathological Bone Collection from Pre-Antibiotic Times

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen causing osteomyelitis, amongst other diseases, and its methicillin-resistant form (MRSA) in particular poses a huge threat to public health. To increase our knowledge of the origin and evolution of S. aureus, genetic studies of historical microorganisms may be beneficial. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether osteomyelitic skeletal material (autopsy specimens collected from the mid 19th century until the 1920s) is suitable for detecting historical S. aureus DNA sequences. We established a PCR-based analysis system targeting two specific genes of S. aureus (nuc and fib). We successfully amplified the historical S. aureus nuc and fib sequences for six and seven pre-antibiotic, osteomyelitic bone specimens, respectively. These results encourage further investigations of historical S. aureus genomes that may increase our understanding of pathogen evolution in relation to anthropogenically introduced antibiotics.

Keywords

• Staphylococcus aureus
• osteomyelitis
• ancient DNA
• pathological bone collection
• skeletal material
• historical pathogens
• infectious diseases
• PCR
• pre-antibiotic era