Molecular Identification of Lipase Producing Staphylococcus Epidermidis Isolates from Community and Hospital Samples, Mardan

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a facultative anaerobic, non-spore-forming, catalase positive, coagulase negative (CoNS) gram-positive clustering cocci that grow on human skin and mucous membranes hence the commensal flora but can turn pathogenic among the immunocompromised individuals; it’s a major cause of nosocomial infections, bacteremia, endocarditis, and wound infections. In the advancement of growth and colonization together with the ability to survive within the microenvironment, lipase has been connected to staphylococci bacteria. The specific objectives of this research are to isolate and categorize bacterial samples from hospital and community facilities. Swabs of the nose and skin were taken. Thus, 15 samples from the hospital and 15 samples from the community were cultured on blood agar. The bacterial species was identified using morphological characteristics, gram staining, and biochemical tests of catalase and coagulase. The conclusion of the study revealed that 29 out of 30 samples had bacterial displacement. Chromatography with gram stain also showed that all the isolates were gram-positive cocci 29 in number. Catalase testing further revealed that 28 of these isolates belonged to staphylococcal species while one of the hospital nasal samples was catalase negative. Regarding the coagulase test result, 27 out of the 29 identified staphylococcal isolates were CoNS. Lipase activity in CoNS was least common and found only in three samples; two hospital isolates from nasal and one weak community isolate. Staphylococcal lipase is described for the purpose of colonizing and subsisting of the existence of microorganism. When performing DNA extraction and PCR amplification to amplify the segment of the rdr gene of Staphylococcus epidermidis, sample was identified in 13 of the 27 CoNS isolates. The PCR results revealed that out of all the clinical samples 9 were S. epidermidis from hospital sample and 4 from community sample. Therefore, the work highlighted that CoNS especially S. epidermidis were prevalent in hospital and community settings.