Detection of Some Bacteriocin Genes in Enterococcus faecium Isolates Obtained from Mastitic Bovine Milk Samples

In this study, Enterococcus faeciumisolates obtained from mastitis cattle were investigated for carrying the most important bacteriocin structural genes enterocin A (entA), enterocin B (entB), enterocin P (entP) genes. The study material was 620 milk samples taken from mastitic cattle. Enterococcal isolation was performed using classical bacteriological methods in selective media. Molecular methods were used to in order to conduct the identification of genus and species as well as the presence of enterocin genes. As a result of isolation studies, 15.5% (96 isolates) of enterococci were isolated; of which 13.5% (13 isolates) were E. faecium. entA and entB genes bacteriocin structural genes were determined to be 30.8% (4 isolates) and the entP gene 7.7% (1 isolate). There were two gene combinations: the first one with 23.0% (3 isolates) entA + entB gene combination and the second with 7.7% (1 isolate) entA + entB + entP genes. This study showed that E. faeciumstrains obtained from mastitic cattle milk could potentially synthesize bacteriocin because they have potency to carry bacteriocin genes. It is believed that further studies are needed to determine the distribution of bacteriocin genes in other enterococci isolated from bovine milk of mastitis and to search for potential use of bacteriocins in this area