Enterococcal vanB resistance locus in anaerobic bacteria in human faeces.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 11265957.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
While developing a rapid method to detect carriers of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), we found the vanB gene by PCR in 13 of 50 human faecal specimens that did not contain culturable VRE. Passaging under antibiotic selection allowed us to isolate two species of anaerobic bacteria that were vanB PCR positive, vancomycin resistant, and teicoplanin sensitive. Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA genes showed that one isolate resembled Eggerthella lenta (98% identity), and the other Clostridium innocuum (92% identity). Southern hybridisation and nucleotide sequencing showed a vanB locus homologous to that in VRE. We propose that vanB resistance in enterococci might arise from gene transfer in the human bowel.