title: Dissemination of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium in a ricotta processing plant and evaluation of pathogenic and antibiotic resistance profiles.
abstract: In this work, the sources of contamination by Enterococcus spp. in a ricotta processing line were evaluated. The isolated strains were tested for virulence genes (gelE, cylA,B, M, esp, agg, ace, efaA, vanB), expression of virulence factors (hemolysin and gelatinase), and the resistance to 10 different antibiotics. Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis were subjected to discriminatory identification by intergenic spacer region (ITS)-polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the ITS region. The results showed that Enterococcus spp. was detected in the raw materials, environment samples and the final product. None of the 107 Enterococcus isolates were completely free from all virulence genes considered. A fraction of 21.5% of the isolates containing all of the genes of the cylA, B, M operon also expressed β-hemolysis. Most of the isolates showed the gelE gene, but only 9.3% were able to hydrolyze gelatin. In addition, 23.5% of the observed Enterococcus isolates had the vanB gene but were susceptible to vancomycin in vitro. The dissemination of antibiotic-resistant enterococci was revealed in this study: 19.3% of the E. faecium samples and 78.0% of the E. faecalis samples were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested. Sequencing of region discriminated 5 and 7 distinct groups among E. faecalis and E. faecium, respectively. Although some similarity was observed among some of the isolates, all E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates had genetic differences both in the ITS region and in the virulence profile, which makes them different from each other.
authors: Dept. of Food Technology, Univ. of Campinas (UNICAMP), Rua Monteiro Lobato, 80 - Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, CEP 13083-862, P.O. Box 6121, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors: Meg da Silva
authors: Mda S
authors: Fernandes
authors: Graciela
authors: G
authors: Fujimoto
authors: Leandro Pio
authors: LP
authors: de Souza
authors: Dirce Yorika
authors: DY
authors: Kabuki
authors: Márcio José
authors: MJ
authors: da Silva
authors: Arnaldo Yoshiteru
authors: AY
authors: Kuaye
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D016983:Enterococcus; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: E. faecalis; E. faecium; ITS region; ricotta; sequencing