17 A. Hussain M. D. Ahmed M. H. Mushtaq M. S. Khan M. P. Reichel T. Hussain A. Khan M. Nisar Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences JAPS 20162016/04/01 26 2 408-414 1018-7081 NA <p>Mastitis is a major dairy herd problem mainly caused by&nbsp;<em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>. The&nbsp;<em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>&nbsp;isolated strains from mastitic milk samples were subjected to molecular characterization of&nbsp;<em>coa</em>&nbsp;gene and phylogenetic tree (using MEGA6.1 software package) was constructed which revealed that the&nbsp;<em>coa</em>&nbsp;gene of&nbsp;<em>S</em>.<em>&nbsp;aureus&nbsp;</em>strains, could be grouped in two clades which were closely related to&nbsp;<em>S</em>.<em>&nbsp;aureus</em>&nbsp;isolates from Japan, India and Taiwan, while&nbsp;<em>S</em>.<em>&nbsp;aureus</em> isolates from Germany, UK and USA were distantly related. These results indicated the genetic relatedness of Pakistani isolates with other reported isolates from different parts of the world. All the Pakistani strains of coagulase gene were 99.98-100% similar while their divergence was 0.02%. The Pakistani strains were 99.9% similar and 0.07% divergent from Indian, Japanese, Taiwan, UK and German reported strains.These findings will also be helpful in future for designing suitable mastitis control strategies in the country.</p> Buffalo, Mastitis, Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase gene Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum https://thejaps.org.pk/AbstractView.aspx?mid=2016-JAPS-56