Detection of Esp gene for the presence of extracellular surface protein among clinical isolates of Enterococcus species

Esp gene is a high molecular weight surface protein whose frequency is significantly increased among infection derived Enterococcus faecalis isolates. Esp gene is an Enterococcal surface protein gene which is present in the opportunistic pathogens Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium. It has been proposed that esp gene can be used as a marker of human pollution in environmental waters. This gene has been shown to be a part of a 150-in putative pathogenicity island. A sum of 20 isolates of Enterococci were assessed for the presence of esp gene that encodes for extracellular surface protein. We have observed 5% positivity in our study. This indicates that, the pathogenicity of urinary tract infections by these pathogens might be crucially played by this gene encoding for extra cellular surface protein.