Ola K Elsakhawy

Dr. Ola K Elsakhawy


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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2 July 2025 in Veterinary Sciences
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Journal Article
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OEOla K Elsakhawy
Ola K Elsakhawy
Mohamed AbouelkhairMohamed Abouelkhair
Mohamed Abouelkhair
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, an opportunistic pathogen of veterinary and zoonotic concern, harbors diverse biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may contribute to its ecological fitness and virulence. In this study, we performed a comparative genomic analysis of 6815 S. pseudintermedius isolates. Using Roary, we identified core and accessory genomes, revealing the subtilosin A gene (sboA) as part of the accessory genome, present in a subset of S. pseudintermedius isolates from clinical (n = 657), environmental (n = 1031), and unclassified sources (n = 487). AntiSMASH v8.0.0 analysis confirmed the presence of subtilosin A BGCs annotated as a sactipeptide with low similarity confidence to Bacillus subtilis subsp. spizizenii ATCC 6633 subtilosin A cluster. Further characterization using BAGEL4 identified multiple genes homologous to the Bacillus subtilis subtilosin A biosynthetic machinery (sbo-albABCDEFG), although albB, albG, and sboX were not annotated, raising questions about cluster completeness and functionality. BLAST v2.12.0 analysis of the full BGC identified by BAGEL4, revealing high conservation (99.6–100% pairwise identity) of gene content and order in 395 clinical, 593 environmental, and 417 unclassified S. pseudintermedius isolates. Incomplete clusters were identified in 763 clinical, 942 environmental, and 201 unclassified S. pseudintermedius isolates. The discrepancy between the number of isolates containing sboA and those harboring the full cluster may reflect evolutionary divergence or could be attributed to limitations in assembly quality. The functional implications of the identified cluster in S. pseudintermedius remain to be elucidated; however, its potential role in conferring competitive fitness by inhibiting closely related species is supported by previous findings in other staphylococci.

27 April 2026 in Veterinary Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
OEOla K Elsakhawy
Ola K Elsakhawy
HEHaitham Farouk Elaadli
Haitham Farouk Elaadli
Yassien BadrYassien Badr
Yassien Badr
MRMay Raouf
May Raouf
SKStephen A Kania
Stephen A Kania
Mohamed AbouelkhairMohamed Abouelkhair
Mohamed Abouelkhair
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is an opportunistic bacterium previously associated with dogs but has recently been found in human infections, raising zoonotic concerns. Genomic characterization of human S. pseudintermedius isolates can provide preliminary information on antibiotic resistance, pathogenicity, and genomic features relevant to host range. Two S. pseudintermedius isolates (hereafter referred to as S. pseudintermedius EGH1 and S. pseudintermedius EGH2) from human clinical samples in Egypt were sequenced using the Illumina NovaSeq X Plus platform. To assess genetic relatedness to human S. pseudintermedius isolates worldwide, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), pangenome analysis, and antimicrobial resistance gene profiling were performed. The sequencing produced a total of 9,499,989 reads for S. pseudintermedius EGH1 and 9,567,531 reads for S. pseudintermedius EGH2. Sequences were assembled with Geneious Prime® 2025 and annotated using NCBI Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline v6.10. Pangenome analysis identified 9574 genes, comprising 1681 core genes (17.56%), 180 soft-core genes (1.88%), 837 shell genes (8.74%), and 6876 cloud genes (71.82%). MLST was conducted on human S. pseudintermedius genome assemblies using MLST v2.23.0. The analysis revealed both isolates as novel sequence types: S. pseudintermedius EGH1 was assigned ST-3037 with a new allele (purA-107), and S. pseudintermedius EGH2 was assigned ST-2874. Clonal relationships among S. pseudintermedius isolates were evaluated using the eBURST algorithm. This study presents the first next-generation genome sequencing and comparative genomic analysis of S. pseudintermedius isolates from humans in Egypt. Future studies integrating genomic, epidemiological, and phenotypic data are required.