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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2005, p. 235-241, Vol. 43, No. 1
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.1.235-241.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of Clinically Relevant Enterococcus Species by Direct Sequencing of groES and Spacer Region

Jui-Chang Tsai,1,2 Po-Ren Hsueh,3 Hsiao-Mann Lin,4 Hui-Jen Chang,4 Shen-Wu Ho,3,4 and Lee-Jene Teng3,4*

Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery,1 Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital,3 Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine,2 School of Medical Technology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan4

Received 28 March 2004/ Returned for modification 12 May 2004/ Accepted 21 July 2004

We determined the groESL sequences (groES, groEL, and the intergenic spacer) of 10 clinically relevant Enterococcus species and evaluated the feasibility of identifying Enterococcus species on the basis of these sequences. Seven common clinical Enterococcus species, E. faecalis, E. faecium, E. casseliflavus, E. gallinarum, E. avium, E. raffinosus, and E. hirae, and three less common Enterococcus species, E. cecorum, E. durans, and E. mundtii, were examined in this study. We found that the groES genes of these enterococcal species are identical in length (285 nucleotides) and contain an unusual putative start codon, GTG. The lengths and sequences of the intergenic regions (spacers between the groES and groEL genes) are quite variable (17 to 57 bp in length) among Enterococcus species but are conserved in strains within each species, with only a few exceptions. Considerable variation of groES or groEL sequences was also observed. The evolutionary trees of groES or groEL sequences revealed similarities among Enterococcus species. However, the overall intraspecies variation of groES was less than that of groEL. The high interspecies variation and low intraspecies variation indicate that the groES and spacer sequences are more useful than groEL for identification of clinically relevant Enterococcus species. The sequences of these two genetic traits, groES and spacer, can be determined by a single PCR and direct sequencing and may provide important information for the differentiation of closely related species of Enterococcus.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Medical Technology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, No. 1, Chang-Te St., Taipei, Taiwan. Phone: 886-2-23123456, ext. 6918. Fax: 886-2-23711574. E-mail: ljteng{at}ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2005, p. 235-241, Vol. 43, No. 1
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.1.235-241.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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