A Cluster of VanD Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium: Molecular Characterization and Clinical Epidemiology

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 180; no. 4; pp. 1177 - 1185
• Main Authors: Ostrowsky, Belinda E., Clark, Nancye C., Thauvin-Eliopoulos, Claudie, Venkataraman, Lata, Samore, Matthew H., Tenover, Fred C., Eliopoulos, George M., Moellering, Robert C., Gold, Howard S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.10.1999; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Antimicrobials; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacteriology; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Chromosome Mapping; DNA; DNA Primers; DNA probes; Enterococcus faecium; Enterococcus faecium - drug effects; Enterococcus faecium - genetics; Enterococcus faecium - isolation & purification; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gels; Genomics; Glycopeptides; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Major Articles; Medical sciences; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Open Reading Frames; Peptide Synthases - genetics; Plasmids; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Vancomycin - pharmacology; Vancomycin Resistance; vanD gene; vanH gene; United States; North America; America; Human; Typing; Peptides; Nucleotide sequence; Genotype; Homology; Vancomycin; Infection; Streptococcaceae; Enterococcus faecium; Antibiotic; Sensitivity resistance; Glycopeptide; Bacteriosis; Molecular epidemiology; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Antibacterial agent; Clinical isolate; Aminoacid sequence
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/315030

VanD-mediated glycopeptide resistance has been reported for an isolate of Enterococcus faecium, BM4339. Three clinical isolates of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium collected from 3 patients during a 6-week period in 1993 had agar dilution MICs of vancomycin and teicoplanin of 128 and 4 μg/mL, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using degenerate primers complementary to genes encoding D-Ala-D-X ligases yielded a 630-bp product that was similar to the published partial sequence of vanD. By use of inverse PCR, vanD, vanHD, and two partial flanking open-reading frames were sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of VanD showed 67% identity with VanA and VanB. vanD appeared to be located on the chromosome and was not transferable to other enterococci. The 3 isolates were indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and differed from BM4339. No other isolates carrying vanD were found in a subset of 875 recent US isolates of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.