Antimicrobial resistance and virulence factor gene profiles of Enterococcus spp. isolates from wild Arctocephalus australis (South American fur seal) and Arctocephalus tropicalis (Subantarctic fur seal)

Abstract

Enterococci are natural inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tracts in humans and animals. Epidemiological data suggest that enterococci are important reservoirs of antimicrobial resistant genes that may be transmitted from other bacterial species The aim of this study was to investigate the species composition, antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes in enterococci recovered from fecal samples of wild Arctocephalus australis and A. tropicalis found dead along the South Coast of Brazil. From a total of 43 wild fur seals, eleven were selected for this study. Phenotypic and genotypic characterizations were used to classify Enterococcus species. Strains were tested for susceptibility to 10 antibiotics, presence of ace, gelE, asa, cylA, tet(L), tet(M) and erm(B) genes by PCR, and genetic variability using RAPD-PCR. Among the 50 enterococci isolated, 40% were Enterococcus faecalis, 40% E. hirae, 12% E. casseliflavus and 8 % other enterococcal species. Resistance profiles were observed to erythromycin, nitrofurantoin, tetracycline, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. The prevalence of virulence genes was ace (68%), gelE (54%), asa (22%) and cylA (4%). In erythromycin- and tetracycline strains, erm(B) and tet(M) were detected, respectively. The RAPD-PCR demonstrated a close phylogenetic relationship between the enterococci isolated from A. australis and A. tropicalis. In conclusion, different enterococcus species showing antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinates were isolated from fecal samples of fur seals. Antibiotic resistant strains in these animals could be related within food chain and aquatic pollutants or linked to environmental resistome, and demonstrates the potential importance of these animals as reservoirs and disseminators of such determinants in marine environmental.

The prevalence, vancomycin resistance and virulence gene profiles of Enterococcus species recovered from different foods of animal origin

“…It was found that these strains had both erythromycin and tetracycline resistance encoding genes and some virulence genes. as a result, these animals are reported to be a reservoir for antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus and could play role in the environmental spread of these strains (SaNteSteVaN, 2015).…”

“…they have the ability to grow at a wide range of temperatures and ph values. enterococci are relatively resistant to heat processing and may survive during classic milk pasteurization and cause spoilage (FraNZ et al, 1999;aareStruP et al, 2000;hayeS et al, 2003;BuSaNI et al, 2004;SaNteSteVaN et al, 2015).…”

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

“…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).…”

Antimicrobial compounds produced by Enterococcus spp. isolates from fecal samples of wild South American fur seals

“…Thirteen enterococci strains (three E. faecalis, one E. faecium, four E. hirae, two E. casseliflavus, two E. gallinarum and one E. mundtii) identified by biochemical and molecular methods in a previous study from fecal samples of wild young South American and Subantarctic fur seals were selected (Table 1) (Santestevan et al, 2015). The colonies were preserved in a 10% (w/v) skimmed milk Molico® (Nestlé) solution supplemented with 10% (v/v) glycerol (LabSynth®) and frozen at -20°C.…”

“…Plasmid DNA extraction was performed according to Sambrook and Russel (2001). The presence of plasmid DNA was observed using electrophoresis on 0.7% agarose gel.…”