Molecular epidemiology of the fsr locus and of gelatinase production among different subsets of Enterococcus faecalis isolates.
We examined 215 Enterococcus faecalis isolates and found that neither the two-component regulatory locus fsr (E. faecalis regulator) nor gelatinase production was more common in disease-associated isolates than in isolates colonizing healthy individuals (ca. 60 to 65%). The majority of gelatinase-negative isolates, including 14 endocarditis isolates (of 80 isolates tested), contained the previously described 23.9-kb deletion and lacked fsrA and fsrB. While these findings indicate that neither fsr nor gelatinase is required for E. faecalis to cause infection, this study did not address whether fsr or gelatinase affects the severity of disease, as it does in animal models.
Roberts
Jill C
JC
Center for the Study of Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Singh
Kavindra V
KV
Okhuysen
Pablo C
PC
Murray
Barbara E
BE
D001483:Base Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018093:Gelatinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology
D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D018093:Gelatinases