DETECTION OF TET(K) AND TET(M) IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS OF ASIAN COUNTRIES BY THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

This study describes the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the tet(K) and tet(M) tetracycline resistance genes in Staphyl ococcus aureus. Primers based on the DNA sequence of the tet(K) and te t(M) genes from S. aureus were used as primers in the PCR assay to det ect the presence of genes for resistance to tetracycline and minocycli ne. Two-hundred and fifteen isolates of S. aureus from Asian countries as Japan, Indonesia, China, Korea and Thailand were examined, and the results confirm that tet(K) specifies resistance to tetracycline but not to minocycline and tet(M) specifies resistance to both tetracyclin e and minocycline. We observed two different types of clinical isolate s of S. aureus strains resistant to minocycline and tetracycline: the first carried only the-tet(M) gene, while the second carried both the tet(M) and the tet(K) genes. Almost all of the clinical isolates of S. aureus resistant to minocycline and tetracycline from Indonesia, Chin a and Thailand carried both tet(M) and tet(K) genes, while most of cli nical isolates of S. aureuss from Japan and Korea carried only tet(M) gene.