Virulência e formação de biofilme microbiano por Enterococcus faecalis isolados de swabs cloacais de frangos de corte infectados com Eimeria spp

Abstract

RESUMO.-A dinâmica da microbiota no trato gastrointestinal (TG) de animais pode ser afetada por patógenos, tais como Eimeria spp. Os enterococos são bactérias saprófitas que colonizam o TG de mamíferos e aves. A influência sobre a microbiota intestinal está relacionada com a capacidade de adaptação das bactérias em se aderir às células hospedeiras e de colonizar as células das mucosas. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a frequência de genes de virulência ace, agg e operon do bopABCD em Enterococcus faecalis isolados de swabs cloacais de frangos de corte desafiados com Eimeria spp e alimentados com dietas padrões suplementadas ou não com anticoccidiano (mo- The microbiota dynamics in the gastrointestinal tract (GT) of animals can be disrupted by pathogens, such as Eimeria spp. Enterococci are saprophytic bacteria that colonize the GT of mammals and birds. The influence on the intestinal microbiota is related to the adaptive capacity of bacteria to adhere to host cells and colonize the mucosal cells. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of virulence genes ace, agg and bopABCD operon in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from cloacal swabs of broilers challenged with Eimeria spp. and fed with a standard diet supplemented or not with anticoccidial (monensin), and, also to evaluate for the ability of these strains to form biofilms under in vitro conditions. A total of 70 E. faecalis were selected and the agg gene was more frequent in strains isolated from the broilers treated with anticoccidial (92.3%) when compared to the group that not received anticoccidial (70.5%). On the other hand, the ace and bopABCD operon genes showed no significant difference between the two groups of broilers (P>0.005). The E. faecalis isolated from the broilers treated with anticoccidial showed a higher frequency of strong biofilm formation when growing in medium supplemented with glucose (92.3-88.5%) and urine (77%) when compared with enterococci isolated from broilers that not received anticoccidial. It was observed that E. faecalis isolated from broilers treated with anticoccidial showed a higher frequency of virulence factors genes and stronger biofilms formation, indicating better adaptation of the isolates in healthy intestinal environment.INDEX TERMS: Enterococcus faecalis, biofilm, virulence factors, broilers, Eimeria spp., anticoccidial.

Frequency of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) in non-clinical Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium strains

“…All strains were already identified as genus, species and virulence profile in previous studies Riboldi et al 2009;Cassenego et al, 2013;Prichula et al, 2013;Santestevan et al, 2015;Prichula et al, 2016). The strains were preserved in 10% (w/v) skim milk (Difco, Sparks, MD, USA) solution supplemented with 10% (v/v) glycerol (LabSynth  ) frozen at -20 °C.…”

“…Enterococci are important Gram-positive bacteria recognized as part of gut microbiota in humans and animals, and they are widely distributed in soil, water, plants and foods (Cassenego et al, 2013;Lebreton et al, 2014;Pieniz et al, 2015;Santestevan et al, 2015;Prichula et al, 2016;Medeiros et al, 2017). Their ubiquity reflects its ability to survive in a variety of environmental stressors (Byappanahalli et al, 2012).…”