A comparative study of pulsed field gel electrophorersis and gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid for homology of MRSA

OBJECTIVE To investigate the application of gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid for the homology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA).METHODS A total of 43 MRSA isolates from the sputum of the patients in ICU between Jan 2008 and Dec 2009 were collected.Pulsed field gel electrophoresis(PFGE) and gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid were adopted respectively to analyze the homology.RESULTS PFGE analysis revealed that 43 isolates had eight clones;gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid analysis showed that 6 clones existed in 43 isolates,and the accordance rate was only 32.56%.CONCLUSION PFGE is superior to the gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid on the accuracy of judgment of homology.Gas chromatographic whole-cell fatty acid should be rigorously used for the analysis of homolog of MRSA.