Quorum-Sensing Systems in Enterococci

Abstract

Enterococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria that is ubiquitous in natural ecosystems, plants, and animals. Some species of Enterococcus are present in the normal gastrointestinal bacterial community. However, others notably Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium often cause opportunistic infections such as bacteremia, endocarditis, urinary tract infections, posttreatment endodontic infections, and endophthalmitis (Arias et al. 2010). Bacteria often use quorum sensing (QS) systems to control the expression of certain virulence genes and establish infection efficiently (Waters and Bassler 2005).