Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus aureus Newbould 305, a Strain Associated with Mild Bovine Mastitis

Staphylococcus aureus is a major etiological agent of mastitis in ruminants. We report here the genome sequence of bovine strain Newbould 305, isolated in the 1950s in a case of bovine mastitis and now used as a model strain able to reproducibly induce chronic mastitis in cows. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main pathogens responsiblefor ruminant mastitis. Staphylococcal mastitis severity is highly variable, ranging from subclinical to gangrenous infection. S. aureus strains isolated frombovine or ovine/caprine hosts differ from human isolates, as documented previously (4). However, detailed genomic data regarding ruminant isolates are still scarce (4, 5, 8, 10, 11). There is thus a need for genomic data to better understand mastitis and identify bacterial factors responsible for the severity of the disease. We previously characterized S. aureus bovine strain Newbould 305 (ATCC 29740) (12), which was isolated in 1958 from a cow in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, with a clinical case of mastitis (4, 12). Newbould 305 reproducibly induces chronic mastitis wit