title: Presence and mechanism of macrolide-lincosamide resistance in Enterococcus columbae strains belonging to the intestinal flora of pigeons.
abstract: Faecal samples from 50 pigeons all originating from different lofts were screened for the presence of macrolide and lincosamide (ML)-resistant isolates of Streptococcus gallolyticus and Enterococcus columbae by plating the samples onto selective media. Sixty-eight ML-resistant E. columbae strains were recovered from the faecal samples of 29 animals. Two of these samples also harboured ML-resistant S. gallolyticus strains. The erm(B) gene was detected in 58 E. columbae and in five S. gallolyticus isolates. Four of these E. columbae isolates also carried the mef(A) gene. Five E. columbae strains possessed the mef(A) gene in the absence of erm(B). On the basis of the sequence of the complete erm(B) gene, 10 E. columbae isolates clustered together in six groups. In two of these isolates, the erm(B) gene sequence was identical to that of S. gallolyticus strains, indicating that exchange of resistance genes might occur between pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacterial species belonging to the pigeon's intestinal flora.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry Diseases, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium. anja.kimpe@ugent.be
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kimpe
authors.forename: Annemie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Decostere
authors.forename: Margo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baele
authors.forename: Luc A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Devriese
authors.forename: Freddy
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haesebrouck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D010856:Columbidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D055231:Lincosamides; D018942:Macrolides / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D055231:Lincosamides; D018942:Macrolides