Evaluation of clonality in enterococci isolated in Brazil carrying Tn1546-like elements associated with vanA plasmids

• Published in: FEMS microbiology letters Vol. 258; no. 1; pp. 29 - 36
• Main Authors: Palazzo, Izabel Cristina V., Camargo, Ilana Lopes B. C., Zanella, Rosemeire C., Darini, Ana Lúcia Costa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2006; Blackwell; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon-Oxygen Ligases - genetics; DNA Transposable Elements; Electrophoresis; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; enterococci; Enterococcus faecalis - drug effects; Enterococcus faecalis - genetics; Enterococcus faecium - drug effects; Enterococcus faecium - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gel electrophoresis; Genetics; Microbiology; plasmid DNA; Plasmids; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Systematics; Tn1546; VanA gene; Vancomycin; Vancomycin Resistance; South America; Brazil; America; plasmid DNA; Tn; vancomycin resistance; enterococci; Enterococcus; vancomycin resistance; Tn 1546; plasmid DNA; Escherichia coli; Transposon; Genotype; Vancomycin; Plasmid; Resistance; Streptococcaceae; Antibiotic; Pulsed field electrophoresis; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Antibacterial agent; Southern blotting; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0378-1097; 1574-6968
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2005.00181.x

Abstract Fifty-one vancomycin-resistant enterococci samples isolated from different geographic regions in Brazil were studied. All the isolates harboured the vanA gene as demonstrated by PCR analysis, and in a majority of strains the gene was associated with a transferable plasmid of 70 kb. A single variant of the prototype Tn1546 associated with common transferable vanA-containing plasmids has spread among the enterococcal strains circulating in Brazil. The VanA element integrity in these enterococci strains and the different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns suggest horizontal transmission of the vancomycin resistance transposon in Brazilian strains.