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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 1998, p. 2463-2464, Vol. 42, No. 9
Differences in the Occurrence of Two Base Pair Variants of
Tn1546 from Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci from Humans,
Pigs, and Poultry
In recent years the risk of transferring vancomycin-resistant
enterococci (VRE) from animals to humans has caused great concern. Studies have shown that the glycopeptide growth promoter avoparcin selects for VRE (1, 3), and high numbers have been found in food
animals and foodstuff in Europe (4, 7, 10). In one case, identical
strains were isolated from both a turkey farmer and his turkeys (9).
The finding of VRE in nonhospitalized humans and in meat eaters but not
in vegetarians has further indicated a food-associated spread of
vancomycin resistance from animals to humans (8). Most of the
vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) strains
isolated in Europe contain Tn1546. This transposon was
first isolated from E. faecium BM4147 (2). Studies of
Tn1546 have revealed that only the vanA,
vanH, and vanX genes are essential for resistance
(Fig. 1). Characterization of
Tn1546-like elements in isolates of animal and
human origin indicated only minor variations caused by inseration
sequences outside the essential part of Tn1546
(Fig. 1), and a base pair variation in the vanX gene was
discovered at position 8234 (5). In this position either a G (G
type) or a T (T type) was found (Fig. 1). Based on all these
variations, different types of Tn1546-like
elements were defined, and indistinguishable elements were found in
isolates of human and animal origin (5).
In this study a total of 271 VREF isolates of animal (226) and human
(45) origin were investigated for this base pair variation. All animal
isolates originated from different herds, and all human isolates,
except strains from Norway and Saudi Arabia, have previously been typed
to independent clones (4-6). PCR amplification of a 424-bp amplicon of
the vanX gene of Tn1546 (Fig. 1) was
obtained from all isolates, confirming the presence of
Tn1546-like elements. By digesting the amplicons
with the restriction enzyme DdeI, two distinct patterns of
fragments were obtained for the G and T types. Based on these results
the distribution of the base pair variation could thus be ascertained.
As evident from Table 1, all isolates from poultry
belonged to the G type, while 32 of the 33 porcine isolates belonged to the T type. In human isolates both variations were found but only one
of the variants dominated locally. Only the G type was found in
isolates from England, Norway, and Saudi Arabia, thus associating these
isolates with poultry. For the human Nowegian isolates this could be
expected, since they were isolated from poultry farmers. All Danish
human VREF isolates belonged to the T type, thereby associating them
with pigs.
0066-4804/98/$04.00+0
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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FIG. 1.
The Tn1546 encoding vancomycin resistance.
The sizes and positions of the genes are indicated. The genes are
grouped into the categories Mobility, Regulation, Essential, and
Accessory according to their importance for vancomycin resistance. The
positions and names of the primers used for amplification of an
internal area of vanX are indicated as is the size for the
obtained amplicon. Sequences from position 8230 to 8240 for the G and T
types are shown with the base pair variation underlined. The sequence
for the G-type variation is from the first published sequence for
strain BM4147.
TABLE 1.
Variations in Tn1546-like elements of VREF
isolates of animal and human origin
The present study showed that VREF isolates from pigs, poultry, and humans could be divided according to base pair variation in the vanX gene at position 8234 (G or T type). All poultry isolates belonged to the G type, whereas almost all porcine isolates, except one Danish isolate, belonged to the T type. This finding indicates, with particular reference to the Danish isolates, that horizontal exchange of VREF isolates or Tn1546-like elements between poultry and pigs does not occur frequently. On the other hand, both types were found among humans, indicating that humans may be infected from both sources. Based on this observation it may be hypothesized that the primary transmission is from animals to humans and not the other way around. However, further studies are required to test this assertion. The present results indicate that the base pair variation in the vanX gene may be a useful marker for epidemiological studies on the spread of VREF isolates and vancomycin resistance genes.
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References
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Lars Bogø Jensen Danish Veterinary Laboratory Bülowsvej 27 DK-1790 Copenhagen V Denmark |
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 1998, p. 2463-2464, Vol. 42, No. 9
0066-4804/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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