Small Colony Variant of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermediusST71 Presenting as a Sticky Phenotype

ABSTRACTWe first observed the phenomenon of small colony variants (SCVs) in a Staphylococcus pseudintermediussequence type 71 (ST71) strain, isolated from a non-pet owner. Although we found that small-sized colonies share main features with Staphylococcus aureusSCVs, they nevertheless show a novel, particular, and sticky phenotype, whose expression was extremely stable, even after subcultivation.