Detection of staphylococcus aureus and identification of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and compositions for the detection and/or quantification of S. aureus from a sample, as well as methods and compositions useful for the detection and/or quantification of S. aureus and MRSA in a single assay. Embodiments include nucleic acids that hybridize to S. aureus -specific nuc sequences and MREJ sequences.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of specifically detecting the presence of a  Staphylococcus aureus  ( S. aureus ) strain and identifying a methicillin-resistant  S. aureus  strain from a clinical sample in a single assay, comprising
 contacting said sample with at least one primer and/or probe of at least 11 nucleotides that anneals under stringent conditions to an  S. aureus -specific sequence within SEQ ID NO: 200 or the complement thereof, or any sequence which differs from SEQ ID NO: 200 by 1 to 20 nucleotides;   contacting said sample with at least one primer and/or probe of at least 10 nucleotides that anneals under stringent conditions to at least one of the following MREJ specific SEQ ID NOs: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, or 88 or the complement thereof; and   detecting the presence and/or amount of annealed probe(s), or detecting the amount of an amplification product produced through annealing of the primers to the nucleic acids, as an indication of the presence and/or amount of  S. aureus , and as an indication of the presence and/or amount of MRSA,   wherein said stringent conditions comprise 4 mM MgCl 2 , 100 mM Tris (pH 8.3), 10 mM KCl, 5 mM (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , 0.15 mg/mL BSA, 4% trehalose at 59° C.