Incidence of the Enterococcal Surface Protein (esp) Gene in Human and Animal Fecal Sources
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- 作者：Richard L. Whitman ; Katarzyna Przybyla-Kelly ; Dawn A. Shively ; Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli
- 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
- 出版年：2007
- 出版时间：September 1, 2007
- 年：2007
- 卷：41
- 期：17
- 页码：6090 - 6095
- 全文大小：123K
- 年卷期：v.41,no.17(September 1, 2007)
- ISSN：1520-5851
文摘
The occurrence of the enterococcal surface protein (esp)gene in the opportunistic pathogens Enterococcusfaecalis and E. faecium is well-documented in clinicalresearch. Recently, the esp gene has been proposed as amarker of human pollution in environmental waters;however, information on its relative incidence in varioushuman and animal fecal sources is limited. We havedetermined the occurrence of the esp gene in enterococcifrom human (n = 64) and animal (n = 233) fecal samplesby polymerase chain reaction using two primer sets:one presumably specific for E. faecium (espfm) and theother for both E. faecalis and E. faecium (espfs/fm). We believethat this research is the first to explore the use ofespfs/fm for the detection of human waste in naturalenvironmental settings. The incidence in human sourceswas 93.1% espfm and 100% espfs/fm in raw sewage influent;30% for both espfm and espfs/fm in septic waste; and 0%espfm and 80% espfs/fm in active pit toilets. The overalloccurrence of the gene in animal feces was 7.7% (espfs/fm)and 4.7% (espfm); animal types with positive resultsincluded dogs (9/43, all espfm), gulls (10/34, espfs/fm; 2/34,espfm), mice (3/22, all espfs/fm), and songbirds (5/55, all espfs/fm).The esp gene was not detected in cat (0/34), deer (0/4),goose (0/18), or raccoon (0/23) feces. The inconsistentoccurrence, especially in septic and pit toilet sewage,suggests a low statistical power of discrimination betweenanimal and human sources, which means a large numberof replicates should be collected. Both espfm and espfs/fmwere common in raw sewage, but neither one efficientlydifferentiated between animal and other human sources.