Screening of in vivo activated genes in Enterococcus faecalis during insect and mouse infections and growth in urine.

ABSTRACT: Enterococcus faecalis is part of the commensal microbiota of humans and its main habitat is the gastrointestinal tract. Although harmless in healthy individuals, E. faecalis has emerged as a major cause of nosocomial infections. In order to better understand the transformation of a harmless commensal into a life-threatening pathogen, we developed a Recombination-based In VivoExpression Technology for E. faecalis. Two R-IVET systems with different levels of sensitivity have been constructed in a E. faecalis V583 derivative strain and tested in the insect model Galleria mellonella, during growth in urine, in a mouse bacteremia and in a mouse peritonitis model. Our combined results led to the identification of 81 in vivo activated genes. Among them, the ef_3196/7 operon was shown to be strong

SUBMITTER: Hanin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2912369 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature