[Transferability of vanA gene from vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis in the digestive tract of specific pathogen-free mice].
We evaluated the transferability of vanA gene from vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VREF) to vancomycin-sensitive E. faecalis (VSEF) in vitro and in vivo. In vitro conjugal transfer experiment by filter mating, the vanA gene of VREF was transferable at the high frequency to VSEF and a mutant strain which cured vanA gene of VREF. In vivo studies in the digestive tract of specific pathogen-free mice pretreated with oral antibiotics, transconjugants were also detected from the feces of a mouse at the lower frequency. However, the colonization of transconjugants was transient. The vanA gene in the donor and the transconjugant strain was confirmed by using a polymerase chain reaction method. These results suggest that VSEF colonizing in the human digestive tract might be developed to VREF by transferring of the vanA gene.
Ikeda
Tatsuo
T
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Teikyo University School of Medicine
Watanabe
Takeshi
T
Matsumoto
Kaoru
K
Murayama
Somay Y
SY
Koshio
Osamu
O
Tansho
Shigeru
S
Ono
Yasuo
Y
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases / Q000235:genetics*; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C071437:VanA ligase, Bacteria; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases