Isolation and characterization of enterocin EJ97 from Enterococcus faecalis MC42

The ability of enterococci to produce bacteriocins some of which display a broad inhibitory spectrum is well known. Based on their inhibitory spectra, most of these bacteriocins have been included in the pediocin-like group. Bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecalis MC42 was isolated from Turkish raw milk. Bacteriocin was purified with ammonium sulphate, ion exchange and reverse phase chromatography. Amino acid sequence showed strong homology with enterocin EJ97. PCR amplification and DNA sequence analysis confirmed this result. Enterocin EJ97 was encoded on a 8.1 kb plasmid in E. faecalis MC42. Strain MC42 was sensitive to vancomycin and did not show any haemolytic activity.