Transferable Capacity for Gastrointestinal Colonization in Enterococcus faecium in a Mouse Model

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of infectious diseases 2009-02, Vol.199 (3), p.342-349
Main Authors:	Rice, Loius B., Laktičova, Viera, Carias, Lenore L., Rudin, Susan, Hutton, Rebecca, Marshall, Steven H.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Animals Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology Antibiotic resistance Antibiotics Bacteria Bacterial colonization Bacterial Proteins - genetics Bacterial Proteins - metabolism Bacteriology Biological and medical sciences Disease Models, Animal Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics Enterococcus faecium Enterococcus faecium - drug effects Enterococcus faecium - genetics Enterococcus faecium - physiology Feces Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Gastrointestinal Diseases - microbiology Gastrointestinal tract Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Gene Transfer, Horizontal Genes, Bacterial Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - microbiology Infectious diseases Inoculum Medical sciences Mice Microbial colonization Microbial Sensitivity Tests Microbiology Miscellaneous Plasmids Selection, Genetic Vancomycin - pharmacology
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Summary:	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 lackedDNAtransferred 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.
ISSN:	0022-1899 1537-6613