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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2001, p. 4538-4545, Vol. 67, No. 10
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.10.4538-4545.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Enterococcal Surface Protein, Esp, Is Involved
in Enterococcus faecalis Biofilm Formation
Alejandro
Toledo-Arana,1
Jaione
Valle,1
Cristina
Solano,1
María Jesús
Arrizubieta,1
Carme
Cucarella,2
Marta
Lamata,3
Beatriz
Amorena,1
José
Leiva,3
José Rafael
Penadés,2 and
Iñigo
Lasa1,*
Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y
Recursos Naturales and Departamento de Producción Agraria,
Universidad Pública de Navarra-Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas, Campus de Arrosadia, 31006 Pamplona,1 Unit of Biochemistry,
Department of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Cardenal Herrera-CEU
University, 46113 Moncada,2 and
Department of Microbiology, University Clinics, 31008 Pamplona,3 Spain
Received 24 April 2001/Accepted 11 July 2001
The enterococcal surface protein, Esp, is a high-molecular-weight
surface protein of unknown function whose frequency is significantly increased among infection-derived Enterococcus faecalis
isolates. In this work, a global structural similarity was found
between Bap, a biofilm-associated protein of Staphylococcus
aureus, and Esp. Analysis of the relationship between the
presence of the Esp-encoding gene (esp) and the biofilm
formation capacity in E. faecalis demonstrated that the
presence of the esp gene is highly associated
(P < 0.0001) with the capacity of E.
faecalis to form a biofilm on a polystyrene surface, since
93.5% of the E. faecalis esp-positive isolates were
capable of forming a biofilm. Moreover, none of the E. faecalis
esp-deficient isolates were biofilm producers. Depending on the
E. faecalis isolate, insertional mutagenesis of
esp caused either a complete loss of the biofilm formation phenotype or no apparent phenotypic defect. Complementation studies revealed that Esp expression in an E. faecalis
esp-deficient strain promoted primary attachment and biofilm
formation on polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride plastic from urine
collection bags. Together, these results demonstrate that (i) biofilm
formation capacity is widespread among clinical E.
faecalis isolates, (ii) the biofilm formation capacity is
restricted to the E. faecalis strains harboring esp, and (iii) Esp promotes primary attachment and
biofilm formation of E. faecalis on abiotic surfaces.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Instituto de
Agrobiotecnología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad
Pública de Navarra, Campus de Arrosadia, Pamplona-31006, Spain.
Phone: 34 948 24 28 34. Fax: 34 948 23 21 91. E-mail:
ilasa{at}unavarra.es.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2001, p. 4538-4545, Vol. 67, No. 10
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.10.4538-4545.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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