Species/Subspecies: | Enterococcus faecium | ||||||||
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Category: | In the normal flora | ||||||||
Etymology: | Genus name: cocci (grains or berries) from the intestine Species epithet: of feces | ||||||||
Significance: | Have great importance because they often carry antibiotic resistance genes. One of the most significant is van A gene, which confers resistance to vancomycin and since 2001 it is appearing in broilers in Sweden. Vancomycin resistant enterococci are referred to as VRE. [Important] |
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Taxonomy: | Class Bacilli Order Lactobacillales Family Enterococcaceae Genus Enterococcus |
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Type Strain: | ATCC 19434 = CCUG 542 = NCTC 7171. | ||||||||
Macromorphology (smell):
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Micromorphology: | Nonmotile cocci. | ||||||||
Gram +/Gram -: | G+ | ||||||||
Metabolism: | Facultatively anaerobic | ||||||||
Catalase/Oxidase: | -/? | ||||||||
Other Enzymes: | Esculinase +, α-galactosidase -, β-galactosidase +, hippuricase v. | ||||||||
Fermentation of carbohydrates: | D-glucose + lactose + maltose + L-rhamnose v sucrose v L-arabinose + cellobiose + D-mannitol v salicin ? trehalose + glycerol v inulin - raffinose v D-sorbitol v starch - |
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Spec. Char.: | |||||||||
Special Media:
| E. faecium can be cultivated on purple agar and ferments lactose under acid production (see Fig. 190:4). SlaBa agar is a selective medium, which is used for surface streaking and enumeration of Enterococcus spp. | ||||||||
Disease: | Animals: Opportunist, which can cause infections in poultry of low age (e.g., air sac inflammation and arthritis). Man: opportunist causing mainly hospital-related and sometimes serious infections. |
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Hosts: | Included in the normal intestinal flora of mammals (including humans) and birds. | ||||||||
Clinical Picture: | |||||||||
Genome Sequence: |
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16S rRNA Seq.: |
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Taxonomy/phylogeny:
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About 50 species have been described within the genus Streptococcus. Many species within the genus Enterococcus have earlier been classified as streptococci and, thus, they are closely related.E. faecium and E. faecalis as well as E. avium are rather closely related. | ||||||||
Updated: | 2023-03-08 |
News |
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New names of bacterial phyla![]() The taxonomic category phylum was previously not regulated by the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), but now this has changed and it was decided to revise the names of bacterial phyla. All phyla must be written in italics (which has been done on VetBact also before) and have the ending -ota. Published 2023-03-01. Read more... |
The taxonomy of chlamydias Species within the family Chlamydiaceae were previously divided into two genera Chlamydia and Chlamydophila. However, the differences between these two genera were not that great and many research groups have not accepted this division. Therefore, the genus Chlamydophila has been returned to the genus Chlamydia and this change has now been incorporated in VetBact Published 2023-03-15. Read more... |