Detection of enterocin gene from Enterococcus.

[Objective] This study aimed to clone and identify enterocin gene from Enterococcus. [Method] The genomic DNA of 12 enterococci was extracted, and separately amplified with specific primers. The amplified fragments were ligated into PGEM-T Easy vector, which was then transformed into DH5α competent cells. The positive clones were sequenced. [Result] Enterocin A gene was 274 bp long. It was obtained from six enterococci, and the amino acids encoded by the enterocin genes cloned from five object enterococci were the same as that of type Ⅱa reference strains except only one amino acid. The homology among them reached 99.76-100%, suggesting that the bacteriocin isolated from the enterococcis belonged to type Ⅱ. Structure prediction by DNAstar indicated that 22nd-30th amino acids of enterocin A formed α region, which had a hydrophilic region at its N-terminal and a hydrophobic region at its C-terminal, a transmembrane helix structure. [Conclusion] This study will provide basis for the heterologous expression and applications of enterocins.