The aim of study was to determine the occurrence of virulence factors and virulence-related genes among enterococci isolated from food of animal origin and effects of osmotic and high pressure stress on expression of virulence-related genes. The number of 78 isolates were analyzed. None of them showed a strong ability to form biofilm, 38.5% (n = 30) had the slime production ability, 41% (n = 32) had gelatinase activity, γ -type hemolysis was observed in 55% of isolates, and α-type hemolysis in 45%. All of the isolates carried 1–13 virulence-related genes. The most common genes were gelE (85.9%), sprE (78.2%) and asa1 (75.6%). There were also observed changes in the expression of the gelE, esp, asa1 and cylL genes in response to various NaCl concentration and high pressure processing. Results obtained in this study indicate that enterococci isolated from food may act as reservoirs of virulence genes. The presence of virulence factors among enterococci, especially the ability to biofilm formation is important for food safety and the protection of public health. The results presented in our work demonstrate that stress that can occur during food preservation and food processing can induce the changes in the virulence-related genes expression.

研究的目的是确定从动物源性食品中分离的肠球菌中毒力因子和毒力相关基因的发生情况，以及渗透压力和高压应激对毒力相关基因表达的影响。分析了 78 个分离株的数量。它们均未表现出较强的生物膜形成能力，38.5%（n=30）具有粘液生产能力，41%（n=32）具有明胶酶活性，55%的分离株出现γ型溶血，α-型溶血 45%。所有分离株都携带 1-13 个毒力相关基因。最常见的基因是gel E (85.9%)、spr E (78.2%) 和asa 1 (75.6%)。也有在的表达观察到的变化凝胶E，尤指，asa 1 和cyl L 基因响应各种 NaCl 浓度和高压处理。本研究中获得的结果表明，从食物中分离出的肠球菌可能充当毒力基因的储存库。肠球菌中毒力因子的存在，尤其是生物膜形成的能力，对于食品安全和保护公众健康非常重要。我们的工作结果表明，食品保存和食品加工过程中可能发生的压力会导致毒力相关基因表达的变化。