JSTOR Daily: Genetic Population Structure of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Associated with Carriage and Disease in Preterm Infants Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are a leading cause of sepsis in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. To evaluate the hypothesis that isolates of CoNS associated with disease ... Genetic Population Structure of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Associated with Carriage and Disease in Preterm Infants Nature: The Association of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolated from the Chorioamnion at Delivery and Subsequent Development of Cerebral Palsy OBJECTIVE: To find out whether there is an association between cultures positive for coagulase negative staphylococci (CONS) taken from babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and a ...

Understanding the Context

The Association of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolated from the Chorioamnion at Delivery and Subsequent Development of Cerebral Palsy Coagulase is a protein enzyme produced by several microorganisms that enables the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. In the laboratory, it is used to distinguish between different types of Staphylococcus isolates. Coagulase is an enzyme-like protein and causes plasma to clot by converting fibrinogen to fibrin. Staphylococcus aureus produces two forms of coagulase: bound and free.

Key Insights

Bound coagulase (clumping factor) is bound to the bacterial cell wall and reacts directly with fibrinogen. Tube coagulase test detects free coagulase (staphylocoagulase) which reacts with coagulase-reacting factor (CRF). CRF is a plasma protein, often described as a thrombin-like molecule, that serves as an activator. Coagulase is an extracellular protein that converts fibrinogen (a soluble plasma protein) into fibrin (an insoluble protein), leading to the formation of a clot. The clot formation provides a means of differentiating S.

Final Thoughts

aureus from other staphylococci that do not produce coagulase. While S. aureus is the most commonly isolated coagulase-positive organism, there are several other species of Staphylococcus which are positive for coagulase activity.