Microbiology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Microbiology 155 (2009), 3564-3571; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.030775-0
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
mic.0.030775-0v1
155/11/3564    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gaspar, F.
Right arrow Articles by Serror, P.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gaspar, F.
Right arrow Articles by Serror, P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Gaspar, F.
Right arrow Articles by Serror, P.
Microbiology 155 (2009), 3564-3571; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.030775-0
© 2009 Society for General Microbiology

Virulence of Enterococcus faecalis dairy strains in an insect model: the role of fsrB and gelE

Frédéric Gaspar1, Neuza Teixeira1, Lionel Rigottier-Gois2, Paulo Marujo1, Christina Nielsen-LeRoux3, Maria Teresa Barreto Crespo1, Maria de Fátima Silva Lopes1 and Pascale Serror2

1 IBET and ITQB-UNL, Quinta do marquês, Av da República, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal
2 INRA-U888-UBLO, Domaine de Vilvert, 78352 Jouy en Josas cedex, France
3 INRA-U1249-GME, Domaine de la Minière, 78285 Guyancourt, France

Despite the existence of various virulence factors in the Enterococcus genus, enterococcal virulence is still a debated issue. A main consideration is the detection of the same virulence genes in strains isolated from nosocomial or community-acquired infections, and from food products. The goal of this study was to evaluate the roles of two well-characterized enterococcal virulence factors, Fsr and gelatinase, in the potential virulence of Enterococcus faecalis food strains. Virulence of unrelated Enterococcus isolates, including dairy strains carrying fsr and gelE operons, was compared in the Galleria mellonella insect model. E. faecalis dairy strains were able to kill larvae and were as virulent as strain OG1RF, one of the most widely used for virulence studies. In contrast, Enterococcus durans and Enterococcus faecium strains were avirulent or poorly virulent for G. mellonella. To evaluate the role of fsrB and gelE in virulence of E. faecalis dairy strains, both genes were deleted independently in two strains. The {Delta}fsrB and {Delta}gelE deletion mutants both produced a gelatinase-negative phenotype. Although both mutations significantly attenuated virulence in G. mellonella, the {Delta}fsrB strains were more strongly attenuated. These results agree with previous findings suggesting the involvement of fsrB in the control of other cell functions relevant to virulence. Our work demonstrates that the presence of functional fsrB, and to a lesser extent gelE, in dairy enterococci should be considered with caution.

Correspondence
Pascale Serror
pascale.serror{at}jouy.inra.fr

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the fsr–gelE region sequence of E. faecium QS32 is FJ858146.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL
J MED MICROBIOL ALL SGM JOURNALS
Copyright © 2009 Society for General Microbiology.