title: Bacteriocinogenic and virulence potential of Enterococcus isolates obtained from raw milk and cheese.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide molecular and phenotypical characterization of Enterococcus isolates obtained from raw milk and cheese, regarding their bacteriocinogenic and virulence activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-three bacteriocinogenic enterococci isolates were identified by 16s rDNA, fingerprinted by RAPD-PCR analysis and tested by PCR for the presence of genes for lantibiotics (lanM, lanB and lanC) and enterocins (entA, entB, entP, entL50AB and entAS48) and by phenotypical methods for bacteriocin production and inhibitory spectrum. Also, the virulence of the isolates was evaluated by PCR for genes gelE, hyl, asa1, esp, cylA, efaA, ace, vanA, vanB, hdc1, hdc2, tdc and odc and by phenotypical tests for gelatinase, lipase, DNAse and α- and β-haemolysis. Most isolates (93·0%) harboured at least one lantibiotic or enterocin gene and were positive for several tested virulence genes, mainly asa1 (100%), gelE (93·0%) and efaA (83.7%). 53.5% of the isolates presented β-haemolysis [corrected].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Enterococcus spp. isolates presented an interesting potential application for food preservation because of bacteriocin production; however, virulence-related genes were identified in all RAPD profiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study demonstrated the contradictory characteristics of the tested Enterococcus isolates: they presented a good potential for application in food biopreservation but contained several virulence factors.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Moraes
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Perin
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Todorov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: B D G M
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Nero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000235:genetics; D002611:Cheese / Q000382:microbiology*; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S