Background and purpose: Rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus in clinical specimens is essential to minimize the transfer and spread of this pathogen. An appropriate method for rapid and suitable detection of S. aureus is detection of one of its genes. The aim of this study was to identify the S. aureus using scaF gene. Material and Methods: The study was conducted on 45 isolates of S. aureus separated from clinical specimens of patients who referred to hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2013. At first, scaF gene was analyzed by bioinformatic tools. S.aureus isolates were confirmed using biochemical and diagnostic tests. Following DNA extraction, scaF gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using gene-specific primers. The results of PCR were examined by gel electrophoresis. Results: The scaF gene was present in all studied isolates. Bioinformatics evaluation revealed that this gene encodes a protein with a molecular weight of 33kDa and contains 297amino acids with a PI value of 6.3. Conclusion: The scaF gene belongs to Staphylococcal conserved antigen family which is conserved in S. aureus strains recorded in JCVI database. Furthermore, due to lack of the same gene in Staphylococcus epidermidis and other species, it could be used for detection of S. aureus infections.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, polymerase chain reaction, detection, scaF

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