Emergence of Enterococcus gallinarum carrying vanA gene cluster displaying atypical phenotypes

Motile enterococci such as Enterococcus gallinarum has the ability to acquire and transfer antibiotic resistance genes to other enterococci. Even though infections caused by E. gallinarum are rare, the discovery of this bacteria in food sources and in clinical environments is disturbing. Here, we report the isolation and identification of E. gallinarum from the wound of a hospital in-patient. The isolate was identified using 16S rDNA sequencing. Isolate 146 harboured the vanA and vanC1 gene clusters, was vancomycin-susceptible, and displayed resistance to ampicillin, penicillin, erythromycin and teicoplanin. This isolate also showed intermediate resistance to linezolid and sequencing of the 23S rRNA peptidyl transferase region did not unveil any known mutations associated to the conferment of linezolid resistance. The presence of vanA did not confer resistance to vancomycin. Structural analyses into the Tn1546 transposon carrying the vanA gene revealed distinct genetic variations in the vanS, vanY and vanS-vanH intergenic region that could be associated to the atypical antibiotic resistance phenotypes of isolate 146. Finding from this study are suggestive of the occurrence of interspecies horizontal gene transfer and that similarities in genotypic characteristic may not necessarily correlate with actual antibiotic resistance pattern of E. gallinarum.