title: Characterisation of VanA and VanB elements from glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecium from Greece.
abstract: Ten glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolates from separate patients in Laikon General Hospital, Athens were studied. Eight isolates had the VanA phenotype and represented variants of three strains based on SmaI macrorestriction banding patterns. Their VanA elements were compared with the prototype element, Tn1546, by an overlapping PCR method. Three related isolates contained resistance elements indistinguishable from Tn1546 (designated Greek type I). The other five isolates all contained identical elements that differed from Tn1546 by the presence of IS1251 between vanS and vanH, by a point mutation (G --> T) at nucleotide position 8234 within vanX and by a partial loss of transposition gene orf1 (designated Greek type II). Two distinct strains of E. faecium with the VanB phenotype were obtained. HhaI digestion of an amplified fragment of the vanB gene indicated that both strains contained the vanB2 allele, and further PCR assays confirmed that the vanB2 gene cluster was located within a Tn5382-like element.
authors.affiliation: Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory and *Laboratory of Hospital Infection, Central Public Health Laboratory,61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT and †Microbiology Department, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Demertzi
authors.forename: M-F I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Palepou
authors.affiliation: Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory and *Laboratory of Hospital Infection, Central Public Health Laboratory,61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT and †Microbiology Department, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.affiliation: Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory and *Laboratory of Hospital Infection, Central Public Health Laboratory,61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT and †Microbiology Department, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avlamis
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Woodford
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005784:Gene Amplification; D005838:Genotype; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010641:Phenotype; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology; D017334:Teicoplanin / Q000494:pharmacology; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C071437:VanA ligase, Bacteria; C079913:VanB protein, Enterococcus; D017334:Teicoplanin; C025651:CCCGGG-specific type II deoxyribonucleases; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases