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de Araujo, G.O.
Study of Enterococcus sp. isolated from wild canids and felids of Brazilian pampa
2019  Full Book

Enterococci are gram-positive bacteria found in human and animal gastrointestinal tract. Many studies were carried out on isolated enterococci from several samples; however few were conducted with microbiota derived from wild animals. The main objectives of the present study were: 1) to isolate and evaluate the distribution of _Enterococcus _spp. from faecal and oral samples of wild pampas fox (_Lycalopex gymnocercus_) and geoffroy's cat (_Leopardus geoffroyi_) found in Pampa Biome from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; 2) to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility profile and; 3) to verify the presence of resistance and virulence related genes. Enterococci isolation was performed using selective culture medium and species identification was conducted by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and MALDI-TOF. The susceptibility profile towards 12 antimicrobials was tested using a diffusion disc method. Strains with reduced susceptibility to tetracycline and erythromycin were evaluated by PCR for the presence of the _tet_L, _tet_M and _tet_S genes; and _msr_C and _erm_B, respectively. PCR technique was also used to determine the virulence genes (_ace_, _agg_, _gel_E, _esp _e _cyl_A). Enzymatic activity of gelatinase and hemolysins associated with _gel_E and _cyl_A, respectively, were also determined. In total 114 enterococci (58 from pampas fox and 56 from Geoffroy's cat) were isolated and identified. _Enterococcus faecalis _was the most abundant (52.63%), followed by _E. faecium _(25.43%), _E. hirae _(7.01%) and _E. durans _(1.75%). Regarding to the evaluated animals, _E. faecalis _was the most frequent species (41.37% of pampas fox samples and 64.28% of Geoffroy's cat). 99.12% of the strains showed reduced susceptibility to at least one of the antimicrobials, being observed for rifampicin (79.7%), erythromycin (69.56%), ciprofloxacin (36.23%), tetracycline and streptomycin (34.78%), norfloxacin and nitrofurantoin (17.39%), gentamicin (10.14%), linezolid and chloramphenicol (2.89%). Among the 24 isolates resistant to tetracycline, 66.6% had _tet_M and _tet_L genes and none presented _tet_S. Of the 21 resistant to erythromycin, 71.42% had _msr_C gene and 42.85% had _erm_B. Regarding the presence of the virulence genes, a higher incidence was observed for _ace _(59.64%) and _gel_E (51.75%) genes, followed by _agg _(21.92%), _cyl_A (0.87%) and _esp _(0.87%). In conclusion, different enterococci species are part of pampas fox and Geoffroy's cat intestinal microbiota. The presence of resistance and virulence in these isolates may be related to anthropogenic factors or ambient resistome.

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