title: Antimicrobial activity and occurrence of bacteriocin structural genes in Enterococcus spp. of human and animal origin isolated in Portugal.
abstract: The main objective of this study was to detect the antimicrobial activity and the presence of bacteriocin structural genes in 224 enterococcal isolates from fecal origin obtained from humans, pets, wild animals and birds. Direct antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes CECT4032 was detected in 102 (45.6%) of the tested isolates. From these, only 22 displayed bacteriocin activity against this indicator. The bacteriocinogenic strains contained one or more of the bacteriocin structural genes tested in this study, with those of enterocins P, A and L50 (L50A and L50B) being the most abundant. Our results show a high occurrence of the combination of different bacteriocin structural genes in the enterococcal isolates analyzed, indicating an elevated genetic potential of these strains to produce various bacteriocins.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brandão
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Atienza
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Igrejas
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cintas
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poeta
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herranz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology; D000898:Antibiosis; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000235:genetics*; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011174:Portugal
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins