The limited host range of Enterococcus faecalis may reduce its clonal diversity and thereby increase its geographic sharing of ribotype patterns. Such sharing would be advantageous for bacterial source tracking (BST). We determined the geographic sharing of ribotype patterns in 752 Ent. faecalis isolates obtained primarily from wastewater treatment plants in Delaware (15 locations; 490 isolates), Georgia (2 locations; 48 isolates), Idaho (1 location; 118 isolates), New York (2 locations; 48 isolates), and Puerto Rico (2 locations; 48 isolates). Isolates were ribotyped with a RiboPrinter. When pooled across all locations and analyzed at a similarity index of 100% and a tolerance level of 1.00%, the 752 Ent. faecalis isolates yielded 652 different ribotypes, of which 429 (66%) were unshared. Even when the matching criterion was relaxed by decreasing the tolerance level from 1% to 10% or lowering the similarity cutoff from 100% to 90%, half or almost half of the ribotypes were unshared. A Mantel test of zero correlation showed no statistically significant correlation between ribotype patterns and geographic distance among the 32 samples (one location at one time) at either the 1.00% (P = 0.91) or 10.00% (P = 0.83) tolerance levels. Therefore, the percentage of ribotype patterns shared between two locations did not increase as the distance between locations decreased. In the case of BST, a permanent host origin database sufficiently large to encompass these ribotype patterns would be time-consuming and expensive to construct.
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Research Article|
May 01 2007
Geographic sharing of ribotype patterns in Enterococcus faecalis for bacterial source tracking
Peter G. Hartel;
1Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7272, USA
Tel.: 706.542.0898 Fax: 706.542.0914; E-mail: [email protected]
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Robin L. Kuntz;
Robin L. Kuntz
1Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7272, USA
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Karen Rodgers;
Karen Rodgers
1Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7272, USA
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Samuel P. Myoda;
Samuel P. Myoda
2Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Water Resources, Dover, DE 19904-2464, USA
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Kerry J. Ritter;
Kerry J. Ritter
3Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Westminster, CA 92683, USA
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James A. Entry;
James A. Entry
4USDA-ARS, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory, Kimberly, ID 83341, USA
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Sheryl A. Ver Wey;
Sheryl A. Ver Wey
4USDA-ARS, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory, Kimberly, ID 83341, USA
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Eduardo C. Schröder;
Eduardo C. Schröder
5Department of Agronomy, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR 00681-9030
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Juan Calle;
Juan Calle
5Department of Agronomy, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR 00681-9030
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Mercedes Lacourt;
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Mercedes Lacourt
5Department of Agronomy, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR 00681-9030
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Janice E. Thies;
Janice E. Thies
6Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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John P. Reilly;
John P. Reilly
6Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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Jeffry J. Fuhrmann
Jeffry J. Fuhrmann
7Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19717-1303, USA
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J Water Health (2007) 5 (4): 539–551.
Citation
Peter G. Hartel, Robin L. Kuntz, Karen Rodgers, Samuel P. Myoda, Kerry J. Ritter, James A. Entry, Sheryl A. Ver Wey, Eduardo C. Schröder, Juan Calle, Mercedes Lacourt, Janice E. Thies, John P. Reilly, Jeffry J. Fuhrmann; Geographic sharing of ribotype patterns in Enterococcus faecalis for bacterial source tracking. J Water Health 1 December 2007; 5 (4): 539–551. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2007.003
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