Staphylococcus aureus of bovine origin: genetic diversity, prevalence and the expression of adhesin-encoding genes.

Staphylococcus aureus is a well-armed pathogen that is a leading cause of bovine mastitis. Attempts to define a set of bacterial proteins that are crucial for infection have failed. The identification of these proteins is important to define biomarkers that can be used for diagnostic purposes and to identify potential vaccine targets.