Fig. 1

Nasal and gastrointestinal colonization of the airplane rat with a CC45-MSSA strain. Staphylococcus (S.) aureus was isolated from the nose using selective agars and media, and identified by an S. aureus-specific latex agglutination test as well as an S. aureus-specific multiplex PCR. Colon content was streaked onto a set of different selective media including Chapman mannitol salt agar on which a second S. aureus isolate could be cultured. Microbial species identification by MALDI-TOF MS was performed using a Bruker Autoflex III system. S. aureus isolates from nose and colon both belonged to spa type t16921 (CC45) (A). Staphylococcal resistance, virulence and immune evasion genes were detected with a commercial DNA array. The presence of CC45-associated genes in the nasal rat CC45-MSSA isolate vs. 56 human CC45-MSSA isolates is depicted (B).