The correlation between expression of endocarditis associated Pili genes (ebpA and ebpC) and biofilm producing in enterococcus faecalis isolates.

Enterococcus faecalis is one of the most common causes of nosocomial infections among Enterococcus species Enterococci have many virulence factors that contribute to adherence to host cells, facilitate tissue invasion, and cause tissue damage. This study is designed to demonstrate the relation between the expression of endocarditis and biofilm-associated pili among E. faecalis isolates and biofilm formation. Biofilm formation by eight clinical E. faecalis isolates was detected by microtiter assay, the isolates showed differences in their ability in biofilm production. Four isolates produced strong biofilm, and three were moderate biofilm producers. While one isolate obtained from the wound was a non-producer. One Step RT-PCR was used to measure the expression of the pili genes related to biofilms and endocarditis (epbA, epbC), the E. faecalis isolates had different ebpA and ebpC gene expression. The root canal isolate (21R) had a high expression of ebpA in comparison with the control isolate and the urine isolate (19U) followed by the root canal (21R) showed a high expression of ebpC genes in comparison with the control isolate. There is a strong correlation between the production of biofilm and gene expression of virulence factor, ebpA (r=0.838) while ebpC correlated non-significantly with biofilm formation (r=0.7143). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]