The E test and the reference agar dilution methods were compared for detecting high-level aminoglycoside resistance (HLAR) among 71 selected clinical isolates, including 62 Enterococcus faecalis and 9 Enterococcus faecium isolates. High-level gentamicin resistance alone was found in 11% (5 E. faecalis and 3 E. faecium strains) and high-level streptomycin resistance was found in 42% (28 E. faeca...

Few studies, if any, have addressed the adhesion of enterococci to the intestinal mucosa and their interference with the adhesion of pathogens, although more than 60% of probiotic preparations in the market contain strains of enterococci. The objective of this study was to investigate if Enterococcus faecium 18C23 has the ability to inhibit the adhesion of Escherichia coli K88ac and K88MB to th...

The relatedness among 91 Enterococcus strains representing all validly described species was investigated by comparing a 1,102-bp fragment of atpA, the gene encoding the alpha subunit of ATP synthase. The relationships observed were in agreement with the phylogeny inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. However, atpA gene sequences were much more discriminatory than 16S rRNA for species ...

The majority of cephalopods are thought to have limitations arising from physiology and locomotion that exclude them from shallow, highly variable, euryhaline environments. The brief squid Lolliguncula brevis may be a notable exception because it tolerates low salinities, withstands a wide range of environmental conditions, and swims readily in shallow water. Little is known about the distribut...

Sows and their piglets were fed a diet supplemented with or without the probiotic E. faecium NCIMB10415 (also known as SF68). Piglets were sacrificed 14, 28, 35 and 56 days after birth and DNA from intestinal segments was extracted and purified. A real time PCR assay was used to distinguish Enterococcus spp. (16s rDNA based), E. faecium (Efaafm gene), E. faecalis (Efaafs gene) as well as the pr...

Two new surface layer (S-layer) proteins (SlpB and SlpD) were characterized, and three slp genes (slpB, slpC, and slpD) were isolated, sequenced, and studied for their expression in Lactobacillus brevis neotype strain ATCC 14869. Under different growth conditions, L. brevis strain 14869 was found to form two colony types, smooth (S) and rough (R), and to express the S-layer proteins differently...

We designed Lactococcus lactis to detect Enterococcus faecalis. Upon detection, L. lactis produce and secrete antienterococcal peptides. The peptides inhibit enterococcal growth and reduce viability of enterococci in the vicinity of L. lactis. The enterococcal sex pheromone cCF10 serves as the signal for detection. Expression vectors derived from pCF10, a cCF10-responsive E. faecalis sex-pherom...

conclusions our findings show that lactobacillus strains with human origin had a mild inhibitory activity against the diarrheagenic e. coli, and these strains may be useful as probiotic candidates in prevention of intestinal infections caused by diarrheagenic e. coli. results a total of 20 lactobacillus isolates were identified from stool samples. lactobacillus fermentum was the most frequently...

The susceptibilities of 12 strains of enterococci and 10 stains of Listeria monocytogenes to N-formimidoyl thienamycin were determined by a standard broth dilution method. Minimal inhibitory concentrations for L. monocytogenes strains were less than 0.25 micrograms/ml. As a group, strains of Streptococcus faecium were less susceptible than Streptococcus faecalis strains, but even for the latter...

The aim of this work was to characterize the functional properties of Enterococcus faecium strains identified after isolation from human faeces. Of these isolates, strain R13 showed the best resistance to low pH, bile salts, and survival in the simulated in vitro digestion assay, and demonstrated an important level of adhesion to hexadecane as a potential probiotic candidate. Analysis of the an...