Evolutionary dynamics of <i>Enterococcus faecium</i> reveals complex genomic relationships between isolates with independent emergence of vancomycin resistance.

ABSTRACT: Enterococcus faecium, a major cause of hospital-acquired infections, remains problematic because of its propensity to acquire resistance to vancomycin, which currently is considered first-line therapy. Here, we assess the evolution and resistance acquisition dynamics of E. faecium in a clinical context using a series of 132 bloodstream infection isolates from a single hospital. All isolates, of which 49 (37 %) were vancomycin-resistant, underwent whole-genome sequencing. E. faecium was found to be subject to high rates of recombination with little evidence of sequence importation from outside the local E. faecium population. Apart from disrupting phylogenetic reconstruction, recombination was frequent enough to invalidate MLST typing in the identification of clo

SUBMITTER: van Hal SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5049587 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature