Background: In this study, we investigated the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus agr groups to detect the predominant type according to the source of isolation and assessed the possible relationship between agr groups, types of infection and susceptible or resistance to methicillin. Materials and Methods: DNA of 194 S. aureus isolates were extracted by lysozyme-phenol chloroform method that included 85clinical samples, 58 samples were isolated from nose of health care workers and 51 were obtained from food products in Gorgan, North of Iran. PCR-based assays were used for the identification of agr specificity group and mecA gene. Results: The majority of isolates belonged to agr group I (43.3%), followed by agr group III (28.87%), agr group II (22.68%), agr group IV (5.15%) and 40.7% of strains were MRSA. In our study, the majority of S. aureus isolates recovered from health care workers and food products were agr group I and isolates recovered from patients were agr group III, these differences were statistically significant (P-value <0.05). There was no statistical difference between the agr groups, infection type and susceptibility or resistance to methicillin. However, agr group III was the predominant group in MRSA strains. Conclusion: Theagr group I was predominant among isolates of health care workers and food products specimens in Gorgan, North of Iran, while agr group III was predominant in MRSA strains and the isolates from patients. Investigation of the possible role of agr group III in S.aureus infections in the further studies is recommended.

Keywords: S. aureus, agr genes, PCR

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