Identification of Enterococcus spp. by proteomics and vancomycin resistance gene screening in isolates of cows with Mastitis and in milk from expansion tanks

• Grant number: 17/08823-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2017
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Helio Langoni
• Grantee: Felipe de Freitas Guimarães
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 15/19688-8 - E. coli, Klebsiella pnemoniae and Enterococcus spp: impact of virulence factors in bovine mastitis and public health concern, AP.TEM

Abstract

Glycopeptide antimicrobials are used in the treatment of infections caused by gram-positive bacteria in case of resistance to other antimicrobials. Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) are often resistant to multiple antimicrobials, have a wide geographical distribution, and currently represent a major cause of nosocomial infections. Six genes of vancomycin resistance have been described in enterococci which can be distinguished based on the structural gene sequence for the resistance (vanA, vanB, VanC, VanD, VanE, and VanG). Enterococci causes intramammary infection (IMI) cases of clinical and subclinical Mastitis in dairy herds. The most isolated Enterococcus species are E. faecium and E. faecalis. They can be isolated from the intestinal tract, feces, infected udders and the environment. The major current concern in the context of Public Health is the transfer of resistance genes to vancomycin from enterococci to other bacterial species. The objective of the present study is to characterize the species of enterococci by proteomics and to detect the presence of VRE previously restricted to hospital environments, in milk samples in dairy herds and in expansion tanks, as well as the detection of vanA, vanB, vanC , VanD, vanE, and vanG among isolates, making it possible to estimate the potential risk to human health. (AU)