A vancomycin-dependent VanA-type Enterococcus faecalis strain isolated in Japan from chicken imported from China.
OBJECTIVE
The characterization of KC122.1, which is a vancomycin-dependent VRE (Vancomycin-resistant enterococci) (Enterococcus faecalis) and the first case in Japan of a VRE isolate obtained from chicken meat imported from China.


RESULTS
PCR amplification of vanA, vanS and ddl gene and direct sequencing of the PCR products were performed. KC122.1 was a VanA-type VRE showing high-level vancomycin resistance and low-level teicoplanin resistance, and its vanS gene had three point mutations. The ddl gene of KC122.1 was sequenced and two changes were found at the ninth codon (GCC-GAC) and the stop codon (TAA-CAA). The latter change was also found in the laboratory strain E. faecalis FA2-2.


CONCLUSIONS
Three point mutations in vanS resulted in high-level vancomycin resistance and low-level teicoplanin resistance. The change at the ninth codon resulted in the inactivation of the ddl gene and vancomycin-dependent growth. An eight amino acid extension at the C-terminal did not impair the function of the D-Ala : D-Ala ligase.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first example of the isolation of VRE from chicken meat imported from China and the first vancomycin-dependent VRE from a nonhuman source.
Tanimoto
K
K
Laboratory of Bacterial Drug Resistance, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Nomura
T
T
Hamatani
H
H
Xiao
Y-H
YH
Ike
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases / Q000235:genetics; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D002681:China; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007564:Japan; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010453:Peptide Synthases / Q000235:genetics*; D017354:Point Mutation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C071437:VanA ligase, Bacteria; C073901:VanS protein, Enterococcus; D011494:Protein Kinases; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases; D010453:Peptide Synthases; C019638:D-alanylalanine synthetase