title: Transferable capacity for gastrointestinal colonization in Enterococcus faecium in a mouse model.
abstract: A high level of gastrointestinal colonization frequently precedes invasive infection due to Enterococcus faecium. Factors other than antimicrobial resistance that promote gastrointestinal colonization by E. faecium have not been identified. We tested the ability of a colonization-proficient clinical E. faecium isolate (C68) to transfer colonizing ability to noncolonizing E. faecium recipient strains. Transconjugants derived from matings that used E. faecium D344SRF as a recipient strain colonized mouse gastrointestinal tracts in high numbers under selective pressure from clindamycin or vancomycin, compared with control strains that lacked DNA transferred from C68. We transferred DNA into a second recipient strain (E. faecium GE-1), which also colonized mice in significantly greater numbers under selective pressure from clindamycin, compared with a control strain. These results indicate that E. faecium clinical isolates express transmissible factors other than antimicrobial resistance that promote colonization of the mouse gastrointestinal tract.
authors.affiliation: Medical and Research Services, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. louis.rice@va.gov
authors.forename: Louis B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: Viera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lakticová
authors.forename: Lenore L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Carias
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rudin
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hutton
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D014640:Vancomycin