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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 2001, p. 905-912, Vol. 45, No. 3
0066-4804/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AAC.45.3.905-912.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Bacteriocin Production in Vancomycin-Resistant and Vancomycin-Susceptible Enterococcus Isolates of Different Origins

Rosa Del Campo,1 Carmen Tenorio,1 Rufino Jiménez-Díaz,2 Carmen Rubio,3 Rafael Gómez-Lus,3 Fernando Baquero,4 and Carmen Torres1,*

Area de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad de La Rioja, Logroño,1 Departamento de Biotecnología de Alimentos, Instituto de la Grasa, CSIC, Seville,2 Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza,3 and Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid,4 Spain

Received 15 August 2000/Returned for modification 3 October 2000/Accepted 22 December 2000

Bacteriocin production was determined for 218 Enterococcus isolates (Enterococcus faecalis [93] and E. faecium [125]) obtained from different origins (human clinical samples [87], human fecal samples [78], sewage [28], and chicken samples [25]) and showing different vancomycin susceptibility patterns (vancomycin resistant, all of them vanA positive [56], and vancomycin susceptible [162]). All enterococcal isolates were randomly selected except for the vancomycin-resistant ones. A total of 33 isolates of eight different bacterial genera were used as indicators for bacteriocin production. Forty-seven percent of the analyzed enterococcal isolates were bacteriocin producers (80.6% of E. faecalis and 21.6% of E. faecium isolates). The percentage of bacteriocin producers was higher among human clinical isolates (63.2%, 81.8% of vancomycin-resistant isolates and 60.5% of vancomycin-susceptible ones) than among isolates from the other origins (28 to 39.3%). Only one out of the 15 vancomycin-resistant isolates from human fecal samples was a bacteriocin producer, while 44.4% of fecal vancomycin-susceptible isolates were. The bacteriocin produced by the vanA-containing E. faecium strain RC714, named bacteriocin RC714, was further characterized. This bacteriocin activity was cotransferred together with the vanA genetic determinant to E. faecalis strain JH2-2. Bacteriocin RC714 was purified to homogeneity and its primary structure was determined by amino acid sequencing, showing an identity of 88% and a similarity of 92% with the previously described bacteriocin 31 from E. faecalis YI717. The presence of five different amino acids in bacteriocin RC714 suggest that this could be a new bacteriocin. The results obtained suggest that the epidemiology of vancomycin resistance may be influenced by different factors, including bacteriocin production.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Area de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad de La Rioja, Madre de Dios 51, 26006 Logroño, Spain. Phone: 34-941-299750. Fax: 34-941-299721. E-mail: carmen.torres{at}daa.unirioja.es.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 2001, p. 905-912, Vol. 45, No. 3
0066-4804/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AAC.45.3.905-912.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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