title: Intraspecies genomic groups in Enterococcus faecium and their correlation with origin and pathogenicity.
abstract: Seventy-eight Enterococcus faecium strains from various sources were characterized by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of SmaI restriction patterns. Two main genomic groups (I and II) were obtained in both RAPD-PCR and AFLP analyses. DNA-DNA hybridization values between representative strains of both groups demonstrated a mean DNA-DNA reassociation level of 71%. PFGE analysis revealed high genetic strain diversity within the two genomic groups. Only group I contained strains originating from human clinical samples or strains that were vancomycin-resistant or beta-hemolytic. No differentiating phenotypic features between groups I and II were found using the rapid ID 32 STREP system. The two groups could be further subdivided into, respectively, four and three subclusters in both RAPD-PCR and AFLP analyses, and a high correlation was seen between the subclusters generated by these two methods. Subclusters of group I were to some extent correlated with origin, pathogenicity, and bacteriocinogeny of the strains. Host specificity of E. faecium strains was not confirmed.
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Laboratory of Microbiology, University of Ghent, Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Marc.Vancanneyt@rug.ac.be
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vancanneyt
authors.forename: Angiolella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andrighetto
authors.forename: Edo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Knijff
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Torriani
authors.forename: K Johanna
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Björkroth
authors.forename: Charles M A P
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: María R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Foulquié Moreno
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Revets
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Vuyst
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Swings
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kersters
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dellaglio
authors.forename: Wilhelm H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Holzapfel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000235:genetics; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases / Q000235:genetics; D002417:Cattle; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005516:Food Microbiology; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001430:Bacteriocins; C071437:VanA ligase, Bacteria; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases