%0 Journal Article %T Susceptibility of Pediococcus isolates to antimicrobial compounds in relation to hop-resistance and beer-spoilage %A Monique Haakensen %A David M Vickers %A Barry Ziola %J BMC Microbiology %D 2009 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1471-2180-9-190 %X Lactic acid bacteria susceptibility test broth medium (LSM) used in combination with commercially available GPN3F antimicrobial susceptibility plates was an effective method for assessing antimicrobial susceptibility of Pediococcus isolates. We report the finding of Vancomycin-susceptible Pediococcus isolates from four species. Interestingly, we found that hop-resistant, beer-spoilage, and beer-spoilage gene-harbouring isolates had a tendency to be more susceptible, rather than more resistant, to antimicrobial compounds.Our findings indicate that the mechanisms involved in conferring hop-resistance or ability to spoil beer by Pediococcus isolates are not associated with resistance to antibiotics commonly used for treatment of human infections. Also, Vancomycin-resistance was found to be isolate-specific and not intrinsic to the genus as previously believed.Isolates from the genus Pediococcus are particularly problematic for the brewing industry where hop-compounds are used to provide flavour to beer. Hop-compounds are antimicrobial in that they dissipate the trans-membrane pH gradient of microbes, thereby inhibiting growth and potential spoilage of product [1]. As pediococci are also used as beneficial microbes in the context of food microbiology and animal husbandry (e.g., wine, cheese, and yogurt industries as well as for the production of silage), the emergence of hop-resistant Pediococcus isolates in the brewing industry is of broader interest. These isolates frequently harbour one or more ATP-binding cassette type multidrug resistance (ABC MDR) genes, suggesting that resistance to hop-compounds may also confer resistance to other antimicrobial compounds [2]. We have previously shown that several genes can be correlated with ability of Pediococcus isolates to grow in beer and to resist the antimicrobial activity of hop-compounds [3-5]. These are the ABC MDR genes ABC2, bsrA, bsrB, [6] and horA [2], a putative divalent cation transporter known as hitA [7], and ho %U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/9/190