Comparative Genome Analysis Reveals Important Genetic Factors Associated with Probiotic Property in Enterococcus faecium strains

Enterococcus faecium though commensals in human gut, few strains provide beneficial effect to humans as probiotics, few are responsible for nosocomial infection and few as non-pathogens. Comparative genomics of E. faecium will help to reveal the genomic differences responsible for the said properties. In this study, we compared E. faecium strain 17OM39 with a marketed probiotic, non-pathogenic non-probiotic (NPNP) and pathogenic strains. The core genome analysis revealed, 17OM39 was closely related with marketed probiotic strain T110. Strain 17OM39 was found to be devoid of known vancomycin, tetracycline resistance genes and functional virulence genes. Moreover, 17OM39 is \"less open\" due to absence of frequently found transposable elements. Genes imparting beneficial functional properties were observed to be present in marketed probiotic T110 and 17OM39 strains. Additional, genes associated with colonization within gastrointestinal tract were detected across all the strains. Beyond shared genetic features; this study particularly identified genes that are responsible to impart probiotic, non-pathogenic and pathogenic features to the strains of E. faecium. The study also provides insights into the acquired and intrinsic drug resistance genes, which will be helpful for better understanding of the physiology of antibiotic resistance in E. faecium strains. In addition, we could identify genes contributing to the intrinsic ability of 17OM39 E. faecium isolate to be a potential probiotic.\n\nThe study has comprehensively characterized genome sequence of each strain to find the genetic variation and understand effects of these on functionality, phenotypic complexity. Further the evolutionary relationship of species along with adaptation strategies have been including in this study.