Determination of comparative minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of bacteriocins produced by enterococci for selected isolates of multi-antibiotic resistant Enterococcus spp.

INTRODUCTION The occurrence of multi-antibiotic resistance among enterococci is a prevalent clinical problem worldwide and continues to get serious due to the lack of efficient therapeutic options by the time. In this regards, prokaryotic antimicrobial peptides with bactericidal or bacteriostatic activity which are directed against bacterial strains closely related to producer strains looks one of the promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. METHODS The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of 20 clinical isolates of enterococci was evaluated and subsequently the isolates were screened for antibacterial activity against three different indicator strains. The efficacy of potential bacteriocinogenic isolates were assayed against multi-antibiotic resistant Enterococcus spp. by comparative minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). RESULTS Antibiotic resistant pattern of enterococcal isolates demonstrated that multi-antibiotic resistant to conventional antibiotics were significantly high and the prevalent pattern of resistance was combination of gentamicin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol and vancomycin. In addition, the data from comparative MIC showed the noticeable activity of selected potential bacteriocinogenic strains against pathogenic enterococci. CONCLUSION The present survey may address the potential applicability of antimicrobial peptides in alleviating the problems of antibiotic resistance.