Safety, beneficial and technological properties of Enterococcus faecium isolated from Brazilian cheeses

• Main Authors: Karina Maria Olbrich dos Santos, Antônio Diogo Silva Vieira, Hévila Oliveira Salles, Jacqueline da Silva Oliveira, Cíntia Renata Costa Rocha, Maria de Fátima Borges, Laura Maria Bruno, Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Melo Franco, Svetoslav Dimitrov Todorov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia 2015-03-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
• Subjects: Enterococcus faecium; probiotic properties; technological properties; virulence factors; antibiotic resistance
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1517-83822015000100237&lng=en&tlng=en

This study aimed to characterize the safety and technological properties of Enterococcus faecium strains isolated from Brazilian Coalho cheeses. High levels of co-aggregation were observed between Enterococcus faecium strains EM485 and EM925 and both Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens. Both strains presented low levels of hydrophobicity. E. faecium EM485 and EM925 were both able to grow in the presence of 0.5% of the sodium salts of taurocholic acid (TC), taurodeoxycholic acid (TDC), glycocholic acid (GC), and glycodeoxycholic acid (GDC), although they showed the ability to deconjugate only GDC and TDC. Both strains showed good survival when exposed to conditions simulating the gastro intestinal tract (GIT). When tested for the presence of virulence genes, only tyrosine decarboxylase and vancomycin B generated positive PCR results.