A variant enterococcal surface protein EspfminEnterococcus faecium; distribution among food, commensal, medical, and environmental isolates

Abstract

Enterococci are increasingly important causes of nosocomial disease. Also, they are associated with food and have a history of use as dairy starter and probiotic cultures. An enterococcal surface protein Esp_fs is involved the virulence and biofilm-forming capacity of Enterococcus faecalis and recently we demonstrated the presence of a homologue Esp_fm in E. faecium. Here we describe the complete structure of Esp_fm and demonstrate that its distribution in E. faecium correlates with disease associated strains from a range of pathological sites.