Comparison of Enterococcus raffinosus with Enterococcus avium on the basis of penicillin susceptibility, penicillin-binding protein analysis, and high-level aminoglycoside resistance
- 1 July 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
- Vol. 35 (7) , 1408-1412
- https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.35.7.1408
Abstract
We reidentified our laboratories' collections of 57 enterococcal isolates previously classified as Enterococcus avium by the API Rapid Strep identification system (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.) with the identification criteria recommended by Facklam and Collins (R. R. Facklam and M. D. Collins, J. Clin. Microbiol. 27: 731-734, 1989). Thirty isolates were identified as true E. avium, 25 isolates were identified as E. raffinosus, and 2 isolates were identified as E. pseudoavium. E. raffinosus could be differentiated from E. avium on the basis of penicillin susceptibility, as follows: MIC for 50% of E. raffinosus isolates tested (MIC50), 32 micrograms/ml; MIC90, 64 micrograms/ml (range, 4 to 64 micrograms/ml); E. avium MIC50, 1 microgram/ml; MIC90, 2 micrograms/ml (range, 0.5 to 2 micrograms/ml). No strains produced detectable beta-lactamase. Penicillin-binding protein (PBP) analysis of all E. raffinosus isolates demonstrated the unique pattern reported previously (M. D. Collins, R. R. Facklam, J. A. E. Farrow, and R. Williamson, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 57:283-288, 1989); however, a number of newly identified PBPs were noted. Of 25 isolates, 13 had an additional PBP of 77 kDa (designated PBP 6*), while all isolates possessed a 52-kDa PBP (PBP 7) and a 46-kDa PBP (PBP 8). The presence or absence of PBP 6* did not correlate with penicillin susceptibility; however, PBP 7 demonstrated many features suggestive of low penicillin-binding affinity and may represent a possible mechanism for the relative resistance of this species to penicillin, although this hypothesis remains speculative since attempts to develop a penicillin-hypersusceptible E. raffinosus mutant were unsuccessful. E. raffinosus isolates were significantly more likely to exhibit high-level resistance to kanamycin than E. avium strains were (P < 0.001; chi-square); however, no strains demonstrated high-level resistance to gentamicin. No trend toward increasing penicillin resistance was noted among this collection of E. avium and E. raffinosus isolates collected over the past 35 and 14 years, respectively. Relative resistance to penicillin may be a helpful differentiating feature between E. avium and E. raffinosus when assessment of raffinose metabolism is not possible or is indeterminant.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Enterococcus raffinosus sp. nov., Enterococcus solitarius sp. nov. and Enterococcus pseudoavium sp. nov.FEMS Microbiology Letters, 1989
- Plasmid-Mediated Resistance to Vancomycin and Teicoplanin in Enterococcus FaeciumNew England Journal of Medicine, 1988
- VANCOMYCIN-RESISTANT ENTEROCOCCIThe Lancet, 1988
- Alterations in kinetic properties of penicillin-binding proteins of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniaeAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1986
- Use of Penicillin-binding Proteins for the Identification of EnterococciMicrobiology, 1986
- Transition from resistance to hypersusceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics associated with loss of a low-affinity penicillin-binding protein in a Streptococcus faecium mutant highly resistant to penicillinAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1985
- Ribosomal resistance of clinical enterococcal to streptomycin isolatesAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1984
- Transferable beta-lactamase. A new mechanism for in vitro penicillin resistance in Streptococcus faecalis.Journal of Clinical Investigation, 1983
- Enterococci from Bangkok, Thailand, with high-level resistance to currently available aminoglycosidesAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1983
- High-Level Resistance to Gentamicin in Clinical Isolates of EnterococciThe Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1983