This
work was also supported in part by NIH grant R56 AI042399 and R01 AI067861 (to BEM) and R01 grant AI045626 (to LBR) from the NIAID. DP was partially funded by a graduate scholarship from The Instituto Colombiano para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y Tecnología, “”Francisco José de Caldas”", COLCIENCIAS. SR was supported by an ASM-PAHO Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Fellowship. We are grateful to Patrice Courvalin GSK126 and Gary Dunny for providing plasmids pAT392 and pCJK47, respectively, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, (Bogotá, Colombia) for logistic support. We are grateful to Shreedhar Nallapareddy for useful discussions and experimental advice. Electronic supplementary material Additional file 1: Growth curves of E. faecium and mutants. The strains were incubated click here in BHI broth and the A 600 were measured every hour. (PPTX 130 KB) References 1. Hidron AI, Edwards JR, Patel J, Horan TC, Sievert DM, Pollock DA, Fridkin SK: NHSN annual update: antimicrobial-resistant pathogens associated with healthcare-associated infections: annual VDA chemical inhibitor summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006–2007. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008, 29 (11) : 996–1011.PubMedCrossRef 2. Willems RJ, van Schaik W: Transition of Enterococcus faecium from commensal organism to nosocomial pathogen. Future Microbiol 2009, 4: 1125–1135.PubMedCrossRef 3. van Schaik W,
Top J, Riley DR, Boekhorst J, Vrijenhoek JE, Schapendonk CM, Hendrickx AP, Nijman IJ, Bonten MJ, Tettelin H, et al.: Pyrosequencing-based comparative genome analysis of the nosocomial pathogen Enterococcus faecium and identification of a large transferable pathogenicity island. BMC Genomics 2010, 11: 239.PubMedCrossRef 4. Willems RJ, Top J, van Santen M, Robinson DA, Coque TM, Baquero F, Grundmann H,
Bonten MJ: Global spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium from distinct nosocomial genetic complex. Niclosamide Emerg Infect Dis 2005, 11 (6) : 821–828.PubMed 5. Heikens E, Bonten MJ, Willems RJ: Enterococcal surface protein Esp is important for biofilm formation of Enterococcus faecium E1162. J Bacteriol 2007, 189 (22) : 8233–8240.PubMedCrossRef 6. Leendertse M, Heikens E, Wijnands LM, van Luit-Asbroek M, Teske GJ, Roelofs JJ, Bonten MJ, van der Poll T, Willems RJ: Enterococcal surface protein transiently aggravates Enterococcus faecium -induced urinary tract infection in mice. J Infect Dis 2009, 200 (7) : 1162–1165.PubMedCrossRef 7. Hendrickx AP, Bonten MJ, van Luit-Asbroek M, Schapendonk CM, Kragten AH, Willems RJ: Expression of two distinct types of pili by a hospital-acquired Enterococcus faecium isolate. Microbiology 2008, 154 (Pt 10) : 3212–3223.PubMedCrossRef 8. Nallapareddy SR, Singh KV, Murray BE: Contribution of the collagen adhesin Acm to pathogenesis of Enterococcus faecium in experimental endocarditis. Infect Immun 2008, 76 (9) : 4120–4128.PubMedCrossRef 9.