title: Tetracycline resistance heterogeneity in Enterococcus faecium.
abstract: The tetracycline (Tet) determinants, which encode resistance either to tetracyclines without minocycline (Tcr) or to tetracyclines including minocycline (Tcr-Mnr), of 30 wild-type clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium were identified and localized. The Tet determinants were transferred by conjugation into a plasmid-free Enterococcus faecalis recipient at frequencies of 10(-6) to 10(-9) transconjugants per donor, as follows: Tcr, 6 strains; Tcr-Mnr, 14 strains; both Tcr and Tcr-Mnr, 6 strains; no detectable transfer, 4 strains. Classes L (Tcr phenotype) and M and O (Tcr-Mnr phenotype) of the Tet determinants were identified by DNA-DNA hybridization experiments. The Tet L determinant was plasmid-borne in 18 strains and was chromosomal in 2 strains. Tet M was chromosomal in 27 strains and plasmid-borne (pIP1534) in 1 strain; pIP1534 also carried Tet L. Tet M was located on Tn916-like elements in 22 strains and on a Tn916-modified element in 1 strain. Tet O was detected in only one strain in which it was plasmid-borne. Both Tet L and Tet M determinants were carried by 19 strains. One strain carried, in addition to chromosomal nonconjugative Tet L and Tet M determinants, a conjugative Tcr-Mnr marker which did not correspond to any Tet determinant tested in this study. These results attest to the genetic complexity of tetracycline resistance in E. faecium strains.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Staphylocoques et des Streptocoques, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bentorcha
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Cespédès
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horaud
mesh_terms: D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D005819:Genetic Markers; D008911:Minocycline / Q000494:pharmacology; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010641:Phenotype; D010957:Plasmids; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D013753:Tetracycline Resistance / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005819:Genetic Markers; D008911:Minocycline