Abstract
A total of 424 Enterococcus spp. isolates from clinical samples (n = 398) and traditional Bulgarian artisanal cheeses (n = 26) were studied in order to evaluate the incidence and expression of bacteriocin genetic determinants. Structural genes coding for enterocin A (entA), enterocin P (entP), enterocin B (entB), enterocin AS-48 (as-48) and enterolysin A (entlA) were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), while reverse transcription PCR was performed to establish the gene expression. Of the total isolates, 163 (38.4 %) were potentially bacteriocinogenic. The genes typical of Enterococcus faecium (entA, entB and entP) were found in 84.0, 8.4 and 15.1 % of the E. faecium isolates, respectively. Focusing on E. faecalis isolates, the frequencies of entlA and as-48 were 19.3 and 0.7 %, respectively. No significant differences in the gene presence between clinical and dairy isolates were ascertained. Bacteriocin genes were found to be expressed at transcriptional level in 83.4 % of the bacteriocinogenic Enterococcus spp. isolates: a single gene in 113 samples (69.3 %), two genes in 21 (12.9 %) and three genes in 2 isolates (1.2 %). The present investigation may serve as a basis for further studies for elucidating the spread of the bacteriocin genetic determinants in the two enterococcal populations (clinical and dairy).
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Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a grant from the Medical University of Sofia (Council of Medical Science, project no. 6/2014, grant no. 11/2014).
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Strateva, T., Dimov, S.G., Atanasova, D. et al. Molecular genetic study of potentially bacteriocinogenic clinical and dairy Enterococcus spp. isolates from Bulgaria. Ann Microbiol 66, 381–387 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1120-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1120-3