Increased pheromone cCF10 expression in Enterococcus faecalis biofilm formed by isolates from renal transplant patients.

Abstract

Renal transplant recipients are at a high risk of developing infectious complications even caused by commensal bacteria. This is because of various physiological non-immunological, and immunological protective mechanisms are not fully efficient in RTx patients. Therefore, rapid and precise diagnostic tools are essential in this particular group of patients. We aimed to develop simple and sensitive protocol Flow-Fish for the study of gene expression in enterococci and to compare expression of genes involved in virulence regulation in biofilm and planktonic form of Enterococcus faecalis. Proper optimization of the method was demonstrated with analysis of dehydrogenase gene expression. According to expectation reduction of the dehydrogenase gene expression was observed in biofilm. Furthermore, expression of studied gene was higher in clinical than in commensal strains. We have also found that in contrast to dehydrogenase gene, pheromone cCF10 gene expression increasing then clinical strains formed biofilm.